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Current Alert Services

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There are many ways to keep up to date on the topic(s) you have chosen to follow. Rather than redoing your search each time and looking for new articles, try using alert services that are built into databases or individual sources.

Email Alert Services

An email alert delivers articles directly to your mailbox. Different sources send these notifications on different schedules; some are as soon as an event happens, others once per day or once per week. Some can be customized to follow particular subjects, some include what is basically a table of contents. If email alert is an option, you will usually see this symbol, Image:E-mail.gif, although sometimes the symbol for RSS feeds Image:Rss.png will include the email alert option. Sometimes your email provider sees these alerts as junk so it's a good idea to name your alert rather than using the default name. Also check your junk mail and if the alert does appear there, mark it as "not junk".

Sources

Journal Databases
Many of the Library databases provide alerts. In most cases, you must already have a topic in mind. Search for you topic limiting you results to academic journals. Sometimes these are called scholarly journals, refereed journals, or peer reviewed journals. Some useful databases are:

Academic OneFile 
Peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. Includes full-text coverage of the New York Times back to 1995
  • Enter your search in the search terms box and limit results to peer reviewed publications.
  • If there is a particular aspect you wish to explore click on subdivisions. For example, organic farming subdivision environmental aspects or agriculture subdivision ethical aspects.
  • Click on Image:Rss.png Create a Search Alert
  • Enter your email address, change the alert name, select your frequency, and click on save.
  • You may make as many alerts as you want.
Academic Search Premier 
Contains indexing and some full text for 4515 journals covering nearly all academic areas of study.
  • Enter your search in the search terms box and click on Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.
  • Click on Alert/Save?Share and choose Create an alert.
  • Create an account (I'm a new user) or sign in.
  • Name your search alert, give it a description, and seave search as Alert.
  • Choose your frequency of emails, publishing time period, and length of alert.
  • Select email all alerts and notices.
  • Enter your email address.
Green File 
GreenFILE focuses on the relationship between human beings and the environment. Contains more than 600 scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports.
  • Click on Advanced Search.
  • Enter your search in the search terms box and click on Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.
  • Click on Alert/Save?Share and choose Create an alert.
  • Create an account (I'm a new user) or sign in.
  • Name your search alert, give it a description, and save search as Alert.
  • Choose your frequency of emails, publishing time period, and length of alert.
  • Select email all alerts and notices.
  • Enter your email address.

Newspaper Databases You may wish to supplement your journal articles with current events. Two well respected newspapers to consult are

New York Times 
After you search your topic you will see Set Up Alert Image:E-mail.gif. Just click on that and fill in the information. Alerts can be emailed as often as daily and you can determine how long you want to continue getting the alerts.
Christian Science Monitor 
Follow the instructions for the New York Times above.

RSS Feeds

You may prefer a RSS feed. The availability of a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed is usually designated by this symbol, Image:Rss.png. RSS feeds usually contain either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. With RSS you can keep up in an automated manner. Unlike email alerts which land in your mailbox, you must activate a feed reader to see the news. Some RSS feeds are more active than others and you may be overwhelmed by the volume if you select too many. Some feed builders you may want to investigate are:

AmphetaDesk 
The default setting should work just fine, you can change the frequency if you'd like. They have a large number of feed channels to choose from, but if you don't see the one you want and the original site has Image:Rss.png you can still lift the code and add it to your feeds.
Google Reader 
You must have a gmail account to use this service.
My Yahoo! 
You must have a Yahoo account, but this is free.


Feel free to contact the Reference Desk or the Philosophy / Religion Librarian for help in locating resources.

This guide was last updated April, 2013.

Librarian: Ken Orenic
Office: BIC 2814f
Phone: (630) 942-2338
E-mail: orenick@cod.edu

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