Current awareness
You can set up auto alerts for favourite searches in databases such as CINAHL, PubMed or Medline. Each time a new article is added to the database that matches your search terms, you will be notified either via email or an RSS feed. This is great if you want to ensure that you don’t miss key research over the course of your PhD studies. It is also a good practice to take into the workplace.
Managing your alerts
Sometimes email subscriptions, newsletters or alerts can feel like added pressure when you are studying and you might like to think about managing your email messages by rules. You can create a rule that places your alerts automatically in a sub folder, and then you can keep abreast of the literature in your own time, without feeling stressed every time a new alert pops up in your inbox.
News feeds and discussion lists
News or RSS feeds alert you to new content in journals, on websites and even YouTube. They are a great way of saving time as they remove the need for you to manually check the website for new content. You can find free news feed apps for your devices e.g. Feedly or FeedR News Reader. Look for the RSS (above) icon when searching.
Discussion lists are a useful forum to collaborate, discuss ideas and ask for help. Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities are hosted at JISC – https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/