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PolyU Library

Conduct a Literature Review

A guide to walk you through the process of doing a literature review

Off-Campus Access to E-Resources

Most e-resources subscribed by the Library can be accessed off-campus by PolyU students and staff.

To access the Library subscribed databases, we recommend locating and accessing your required database from the Library webpage or  OneSearch. You are required to login with your PolyU NetID and password to authenticate as an eligible PolyU user to access the selected databases.

Get PDFs Faster using Browser Plug-ins

If you wish to access full-text PDFs directly from publisher's site without accessing from the Library webpage or OneSearch, you can install one of the following plug-ins in your browser. 

Follow the steps below to install the bookmarklet to your browser.

  1. Enable the bookmark toolbar in your browser.
  2. Drag the following button to the bookmark toolbar area.

  1. Right-click on the bookmark button to rename it as "Connect via PolyU Library".
  2. Access article from publisher website, e.g. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/, then click the "Connect via PolyU Library" button you have just installed. This will prompt you to login your NetID & NetPassword and access this page as a PolyU user. You shall be able to download PDF now.

Watch a short video to learn how to install bookmarklet in Chrome:

EndNote Click (formerly Kopernio) is a free browser plug-in which helps you to get full-text PDF faster by securely connecting you to the Library’s journal subscriptions and open access content. Follow the steps below to install the plug-in in your browser.

  1. Go to EndNote Click's page
  2. Click to add the plug-in in your browser
  3. You will be prompted to create a personal account if you haven't done so. Then link your account with the University.
  4. Upon your next visit to a publisher site, you will see "View PDF" button popped up. Click on the button will get you the PDF through Library's subscription.

LibKey is a free browser plug-in which provides instant links to full-text content for articles subscribed to by the Library - or open access alternatives - as you do research on the web and come across literature. The service covers thousands of scholarly publisher websites, Wikipedia and major databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science. 

  1. Go to LibKey's download page
  2. Choose your browser and add it to your browser
  3. Select "Hong Kong Polytechnic University" from the list. 
  4. Upon your next visit to a publisher site or database, you will see "Download PDF" or "Article Link" button along with article entries. Click on the button will direct you to the options to download PDF through Library's subscription.

Unpaywall is a free browser plug-in which helps you to skip the paywall on millions of journal articles and get permissible full-text PDF. Follow the steps below to install the plug-in in your browser.

  1. Go to unpaywall browser extension page
  2. Click to install the plug-in in your browser
  3. When you visit a publisher site again, unpaywall will try to get you a permission version of PDF, including post-prints in repositories.

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Connect Google Scholar with Library

Connecting Google Scholar with Library allows you to get the full text of articles you found on Google Scholar more efficiently, especially when you are off campus. Follow the steps to set up the connection:

Connect Google Scholar with Library

 

After the connection is set, you will be able to see "PolyU eLinks" along with the articles we have full-text access. You only need to set this once for one device.

PolyU eLinks on Google Scholar

Remote Access Services

🚨A VPN service is not recommended when accessing library resources.

The virtual private network (VPN) service is provided to the University community to access IT facilities on campus and on the cloud services provided by the University only.

Campus Remote Access Service provided by the PolyU ITS

This VPN service facilitates staff and students who assist in departmental projects and other users to access the IT resources on the campus network from remote access in a secure way. There are four kinds of VPN:

  1. Staff VPN (for all PolyU staff)
  2. Restricted Access VPN (for staff, research assistants or vendors who need to perform server administration work on data centre)
  3. Research VPN (for students who help departments carry out researches and need to access departmental hosts)
  4. CPCE VPN (for CPCE users accessing CPCE services on PolyU campus)
🚨 Sept 2024 Update: 
  • The Cloud Express II VPN service will be discontinued for students. Students in mainland China will soon no longer be able to connect or use this VPN service.
  • For students in mainland China conducting departmental research, please consider using the existing ITS Research VPN.
Cloud Express II VPN Service
(VPN for Mainland-based Staff)

Cloud Express II VPN service provides a higher-resilience multiple-entry secure VPN service for staff in Mainland China to access cloud services provided by the University such as LEARN@PolyU, irrespective of the telecom carriers of the Internet service provider subscribed by the students.

Please refer to the Remote Access Services Guide prepared by ITS to learn how to install a VPN.

Please refer to this guide to uninstall and remove the old client software “Endpoint Security VPN".

Please contact the Information Technology Services Office or WeChat / WhatsApp: 6577 9669 for enquiries. 

Subjects: Literature Review