Quest, the Series: How to Plan Your Online Research – The Goldilocks Rule (Part 3)

The Goldilocks Rule, Part 3 in the Quest series, is intended to address the second broad category of online research … Following new developments in your field

The most time-effective way to follow innovative developments in your field is to create email alerts.

Two of the best places to create these alerts ,..

Google® Scholar (https://scholar.google.com)
ScienceDirect (www.sciencedirect.com)

TIP #1: The Goldilocks rule
The Goldilocks principle is named by analogy to the children's story The Three Bears, in which a little girl named Goldilocks tastes three different bowls of porridge and finds that she prefers porridge that is neither too hot nor too cold, but has just the right temperature.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_principle

In the online research context, the Goldilocks rule means designing your search strategy to yield just the right amount of results … not too many, and not too few, but just the right amount.

Apply the Goldilocks rule when creating your alerts. That way, you are less likely to dread wading through all the alerts in your inbox, while still managing to stay on top of interesting developments.

How to set up alerts in …
Google® Scholar

• Visit Google® Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/)
• Perform a search. For example, dibenzothiophene
• Click the Create alert link, located in the left hand column of the results page
• Enter your email address
• Click the Create alert link

How to set up alerts in …
ScienceDirect
NOTE: ScienceDirect alerts can be set up for free. But they are especially useful if your organization subscribes … then you can jump from the abstract to the full text. Ask your librarian

• Visit ScienceDirect (https://www.sciencedirect.com/)
• Perform a search. For example, dibenzothiophene
• Click the search icon
• On the results page, click the Set search alert link
• Click the Create an account link (or, if you have registered in the past, enter ID and password)
• This returns you to the results page
• Click the Set search alert link
• Name your alert
• Click Save

TIP #2: Read your email alerts every day. If you find them piling up unread, consider modifying your search statement.

Your purpose is to make yourself aware of important developments, not to do a literature search. Tips on performing a comprehensive search on your topic will appear in subsequent posts.

TIP #3: When you spot an interesting item in your email alert, read it. You may want to find other papers on that particular topic, or by the paper’s authors.