Embedding links in GCULearn

These instructions are for use with the library management system, if you have any problems creating new resources, please contact your librarian for advice on embedding links.

If GCU already subscribes to the electronic version of a journal, the easiest way to provide your students with the full article is to add a link in your GCULearn module. We recommend that you use the permalink available on our Discover search. Here is a set of quick instructions:

  • First find the article using the Discover search box on the library home page. The fastest way to do this is to enclose the exact title in inverted commas
  • The results of your search display in a standard format. Look at the right of the top of the entry and click the grey permalink icon (it looks like a link on a chain). Alternatively, you can click the blue article title, then on the grey permalink icon in the "send to" section of the screen
  • When you click this, a white box will open displaying the link, click the green copy permalink to clipboard message
  • The link will then be highlighted in yellow and flagged with a tick and the message Permalink URL was copied. Your link is then ready to be embedded into GCULearn
  • These links can be very long, so you can either use the article title or standard wording like “full text” and add the link to them or use a link shortening service such as bit.ly.

You can also use this method to link to ebooks and library print resources.

We have created instructions on how to link to edShare resources.

If you need help with a resource not covered by Discover, please contact your librarian.

Further information

If you display the article and then copy the URL (web address) in the navigation bar of your browser, it contains session information that will expire. This means that the link will not work if you try to use it later.

To solve this problem, most providers give permanent links to articles or article citations. These are called Persistent URLs (PURLs), Permalinks or DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers). We recommend using Discover permalinks as they are easier to log in to and not all ejournal articles have DOIs.