RSS allows you to create automatic downloads of updated content. Watch this short video explaining how it works or download the slides from the GSMZ workshop on RSS. 

Download our quick-start guide to RSS (pdf).

RSS is useful for the postgraduate researcher because it means that you can create a homepage that will receive new content from websites and databases in your subject area such as

• Journal contents pages
• Searches on academic databases
• Calls for Papers
• Blogs in your subject area
• Bookmarks from other researchers in your field
• Google alerts

  

To find a feed...

• look for the RSS symbol on webpages.

Other places to look for feeds

• Your research databases
• Your library subject room
• Websites
• Blogs
• Social bookmarking sites

Create a customisable homepage

To receive a feed you need a feed reader such as netvibes, pageflakes, protopage or igoogle. These are personal web portals: you can use them to create and personalise your own page, choose content and aggregate RSS feeds.

 Download the slides from this workshop.

Look at the GSMZ pageflakes or the GSMZ protopage to see the kind of page you could produce.

 To add a feed simply click on the RSS icon, then copy and paste the feed URL into the box indicated in your reader.