Library Homepage: Receiving Search Alerts from Ovid databases

What is it?

• LISTS the citation and abstract of each record in the email itself
• LINKS to all records in the original Ovid database eg Medline
• LINKS to individual records in the original Ovid database
• LINK can search for full text of individual records in our library catalogue

Advantages

• RECOMMENDED IF you want to review results direct in your email without using other software.
• Simpler for those doing very little research
• Does not require EndNote to be installed

Disadvantages

• You need to look through the list of results directly in every email – this can become overwhelming if there are a lot of results and emails
• If you want to export results to EndNote you need to go to the database link and export from there (more steps involved)

Steps when you receive your email (see sample below)

• To browse results scroll through the citations and abstracts in the email (could be a long list)
• To see all the results in the original Ovid database click on Result Set at the top (circled)
• To see individual results in the original Ovid database click on Citation after each record
• To search for full text for an individual record click on External Link Resolver after each record 

What the email will look like

What is it?

• ATTACHES an EndNote friendly RIS file to your email.
• LINKS to all records in the original Ovid database eg Medline

Advantages

• RECOMMENDED IF you are using EndNote or similar software to view and organise your results.
• You can save results in an EndNote Library as you go, then dedupe and review multiple sets of records when you have time
• Quick access to all EndNote features such as Cite as you Write, Find Full Text etc
• Best for confident and regular researchers

Disadvantages

• Does NOT list individual results in a text format in the email
• Requires EndNote or similar bibliographic management software to open the attachment

Steps when you receive your email (see sample below)

• To add to your EndNote library:
  • open the EndNote library you want to add records to
  • download the attachment called cites.ris
  • click on downloaded file to open it in your EndNote library
• To see all records in the original Ovid database click on the link at the bottom of the email

What the email will look like