Conducting a thorough literature search can be very satisfying. Unfortunately it can go out of date almost as soon as it is complete. During the course of your research you'll need to monitor new publications in your field to ensue that your thesis cites current debates and reflects on the latest research.
Set up alerts so that you are notified every time a new issue of a journal is published. These two services can be searched like a database, but they are designed to generate RSS feeds and so it is very straightforward to set them up:
Another great resource isLexis Library News - primarily for UK regional and national papers. when you have connected, select 'News' from the header.
Stay up to date with key stories in the news by reading Cambridge's research magazine Horizons. The Conversation is an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and aimed at the public.
To find out about what is going on in Higher Education, you could try these services:
Social media is also a great way for researchers to stay up to date. See our tab on Developing Your Digital Footprint
There are two main ways to do this:
Social Media
Follow academics on Twitter to find out about their latest publications and what they are reading.
You might find that, as with Social Media, you spend most of your time deleting irrelevant posts. Luckily there are lots of filters out there which means you can limit the amount of data you receive and therefore need to read.
Please note that you will need to sign up to these services. We recommend that if you use your Cambridge email address, you do not use your Raven password but choose another one instead.
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