Plant and Soil Sciences Guide

These can be combined in search boxes as follows:

Other tips:

• Limit results by year of publication.
• Sort by relevance (default in most databases, but not in Scopus).
• In the results list, look for subject terms of keywords that can help you fine-tune your search.

If you are working on a large research project, search alerts can notify you when new articles about your research topic are added to a database.

Search Alerts in Scopus

The following steps show how to set up email alerts in the Scopus database. Most other databases also allow you to set up alerts.  

1. Set up a Scopus profile by clicking on Register at the top right.
2. Enter the required information. (You should not use your MSU ID and Password for this.)
3. Perform your search.
4. Click on the Set Alert link, located above the Document Results box.
5. Click on Create.

Search Alerts in EBSCO Databases

The MSU Libraries subscribes to many databases from the EBSCO company, including Academic Search Premier, Business Source Complete, Environment Complete, ERIC, and more. The following are the steps for setting up a search alert in any EBSCO database.

1. Perform your search.
2. At the top of the page, click on Sign In. You will then be directed to log in through the MSU CAS system.
3. Click on the Share button at the top of the results list (on the right).
4. Click on E-mail Alert and select alert frequency (once a day, biweekly, or once a month).
5. To get the abstract in the email alerts, change Results Format to Detailed.
6. Click on the Save Alert link.

Table of Contents Alerts

For immediate notification when new issues of your favorite journals become available, set up Table of Contents Alerts.

1. Go to the publishers website.
2. Find the homepage of the journal.
3. Look for the link to sign up for Table of Contents Alerts.