Frequently Asked Questions
Q. I want to modify your cases to make them more relevant to my students. Can I do that?
A. Yes. We encourage people to modify our cases. To make that possible, the PDF case files are not "locked." You can copy-and-paste from them to create your own versions, tailoring them to your needs. For instructions, see Modifying and Personalizing Case PDFs.
Q. I am having problems downloading some of the PDFs on your site. The title displays correctly, but the rest of the letters in the text are replaced with dots and I get a message that says the program "Cannot extract the embedded font." How can I solve this problem?
A. Since conversion to the new website, a handful of readers have informed us they are having difficulty viewing certain case PDF documents. This seems to happen to files in a subset of the collection that were converted on a different platform in our offices, and it appears only to affect people running older versions of Adobe Reader/Acrobat. If you experience this problem, please send an email message with the title of the case to help@sciencecases.org so that we can fix the problem for the next user. More generally, however, the issue can also be solved on the user's end by updating to Adobe Reader/Acrobat version 8.1.1 available on Adobe's site at http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/402/kb402673.html
Q. I cannot find a case study that I have used before from your site.
A. Not all of the cases on the old site have been transferred to the new site's case database. We have about 33 more that need to be converted, indexed, and uploaded into the database. These are listed on our "back catalog" page at http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/browse.asp, from which you can access them. As we add these remaining "back catalog cases" to the new database, they will be deleted from this page.
Q. Is there a way to get a complete listing of all of the cases in the case database?
A. Yes. To generate a complete listing, go to the case collection page at http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/ Leave the keyword search box empty, don't set it for any of the other parameters, and just click on the search button.
Q. How do I access the answer keys on the new website?
A. You can still access the answer key through the teaching notes for a case as before, but you can also access it directly from the case record. For example, on this page http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/detail.asp?case_id=382&id=382, you will see an "Answer Key" tab. Click on that and input your username and password as prompted to access the key. Please Note: If an Answer Key tab does not display on a case record, it means there is no answer key for that particular case.
For more information on answer keys, including how to register for a password account, see http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/passwords/index.asp
Q. I have lost my answer key password. How can I retrieve it?
A. To retrieve a lost or forgotten password, got to http://www.sciencecases.org/lost.asp and follow the directions.
Q. What does it mean that the cases are in a database?
A. A major change in the site is that our cases are now indexed and in a searchable database. Cases can be searched by subject heading, intended audience, type of case/case method, topical area, and keyword. To access the new case database directly and begin searching for cases, go to: http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/
Q. How is access in the new database organized?
A. The central point of access to a case and its various components is now the case record. The case record consists of an abstract of the case, a list of learning objectives, and information about the author(s), date posted, format, intended audience, type of case, subject coverage, keywords, and topical area(s), if applicable. In addition, it is from the case record that you access the case itself, its teaching notes, the answer key (if there is one), and any supplemental materials. From the case record you can also submit and/or read comments on a case. To see a sample case record, go to http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/detail.asp?case_id=414&id=414
Q. When setting a link to one of your cases for my students to access, which page on the new site should I set it to, the case record or the case itself?
A. For student access, we recommend that you set the link directly to the case PDF, for example to http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/files/pharmacogenetics.pdf rather than to the case record.
Q. How can I help improve the site?
A. Send us corrections! Also, as we continue to improve the new case database and its search functions, we are particularly interested in hearing from people with suggestions for added keywords or subject headings to make the indexing on the individual case records describing our cases richer and deeper. As you use the case database, if you have suggestions (or corrections) for the case records, please send them directly to Nancy Schiller at schiller@buffalo.edu
Last Update: 21 March, 2012
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