Ask yourself:
What type of information am I looking for?
- Books / Journals / Articles / Papers / Research
Which sources should I use?
- Informal sources/ General sources / Specific sources
What processes are in place for keeping up to date that would best suit me?
| Search alerts |
allows you to receive emails on topics you’re interested in straight to your email inbox. These could be from academic databases or general search engines. |
| Citation alerts |
really useful if you’re interested in a particular article and how this is being used. Can be set up in Scopus. |
| Table of Contents / TOCs |
sign up to receive the table of contents for a particular journal each time an issue is published. Journal TOC let you search for journal by subject or title. |
| Mailing lists |
Joining a mailing list can be a good way to engage with other people on a similar topic in a closed safe environment. Jiscmail hosts many lists on different academic topics. |
| RSS feeds |
Use a feed reader to receive updates from websites and blogs, all in one place so you don’t have to got to each one individually. Feedly, for example does this for you. |
| Twitter |
A good way to keep up to date with a broader community including academic community. You can use private lists to organise by type of content. Perhaps have a special list for special people, or set up notifications to your phone from interesting accounts.
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What exactly do I want to keep up to date with?
- Be as specific as you can in your subject area. Broader subject = bigger results!
- If you register for a number of current awareness services, be prepared for many emails! Unsubscribe if you are going away as email may build up quickly.
- If you do not unsubscribe you may also have to delete any autoreply that you have set up during your absence. This could cause problems with your subscriptions.
- Keep the confirmation email it may provide information about your username and password; how to unsubscribe or change your subscription.
- Check the privacy statement or disclaimer available from the website and select whether you wish to receive promotional material or have your details passed onto other associations.
Remember that as an Aberystwyth University student, while you can use your AU e-mail address to register for such services, it is not recommended that you use your AU password.
Do not use or enter your AU password to any external sites.
