DCCL Orientation & Dissertation Workshop

What is a Search Alert?

Search alerts can help you keep up when new articles are published on topics you're interested in, or notify you when the full text of a new issue of a journal is available in a database.

You can save a particular search and have the database automatically run the search against any newly added material on a weekly or monthly basis and then send you the results. 

You should probably make the search a broad one. The database will only be examining the recent literature so the results list won't be too long and you may catch articles that might slip through the cracks otherwise.

Many databases offer search alert services via email or RSS feed. The boxes below show how to create alerts in databases from two major companies, EBSCO and ProQuest as well as in Google Scholar and SAGE Journals.

ProQuest databases that you might use include:

EBSCO databases you might use include:

The SAGE Journals Database is a very scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database that you will find useful.