Getting Started for Students

SIGNING UP

This guide walks you through how to sign up and create an account on CUNY’s Manifold instance, how to Highlight, and how to Annotate Manifold Texts. You don’t need an account to read Manifold Texts, but if your instructor has asked you to Highlight and leave Annotations, you’ll need to create an account.

To sign up and create an account, go to cuny.manifoldapp.org and click on the SIGN UP link.

Follow the prompts to enter the necessary information, and click “Create Account.” You may also use your Google or Twitter credentials to create an account.

After clicking on “CREATE ACCOUNT,” you will be taken to your profile page where you can upload a profile image, edit your name, or change your password. If you have made changes, click on “SAVE CHANGES” or click on the “Cancel X” in the upper right-hand corner to exit out of the edit profile screen and get started reading on Manifold.

Congratulations! At this point your account has been created and you are logged into CUNY’s Manifold instance.

If your instructor is using a Reading Group for your course, click on the invite link they have provided to join the group.

ACCESSING TEXTS

Now that you have created an account and are logged into Manifold, use the link your instructor provided to access your course reading(s).

READING TEXTS

Once you have navigated to your course or assigned reading(s) page, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the page. Explore the information and resources that the instructor has provided. You may see a “START READING” button, if there is only one assigned Text, or a list of Texts if there are multiple assigned readings.

To open a Text and begin reading, click on the “START READING” button

or on the title of the Text from the list.

You are now in the Manifold Text reading interface. Click on “CONTENTS” to display a dropdown table of contents for the Text. Clicking on an item from the table of contents will take you to that section of the Text.

In the upper right hand corner of the screen, you will see five icons that allow you to control the look and feel of the Text in the Manifold reading interface and manage your account.

• Notepad - My Notes + Comments: Once you've highlighted or annotated a passage in a Text, it will appear here.
• Eye - Hide or make visible your or other’s Highlights, Annotations, Resources, and Reading Groups.
• Aa - Adjust appearance: font style, light or dark mode, and margins.
• Magnifying Glass - Search within the Chapter, Text, or Project.
• Profile icon/image - My Starred, My Notes + Comments, My Reading Groups, Edit Profile, Notifications, and Logout.

RESOURCES

Gray boxes within the Text indicate places where a Resource has been added to the Text. Click on the box or its corresponding thumbnail in the left margin, or at the bottom of the screen if you are on a mobile device, to open the Resource.

ANNOTATIONS & COMMENTS

To interact with the Text, such as creating an Annotation or Comment, highlight a passage with your cursor and a pop-up box will appear with four options: SHARE, ANNOTATE, HIGHLIGHT, AND CURRENT READING GROUP.

IMPORTANT! If you have joined a Reading Group for your course, make sure you are in the correct group by clicking on “CURRENT GROUP” at the bottom of the pop-up box and selecting the group from the list BEFORE you begin Annotating or Commenting.

To add a new annotation to a Text, highlight the passage with your cursor and select “ANNOTATE” from the pop-up box.

To add a Comment to an existing Annotation, click on the Annotation, the underlined section of the Text, and in the drawer that appears from the right, click on “REPLY”, add your Comment to the box, click “POST”, and your reply will be added to the Annotation thread.

You can also share the selected passage to Twitter, or to get a citation for the passage in APA, MLA, or Chicago styles by clicking on “Share” from the pop-up box.