(via Tim Wilson) I guess Yahoo News was putting them to shame on this, but whatever the reason, Google has finally stepped up to the plate and is now offering search results via RSS feeds. If you haven’t gotten the RSS bug yet, this is even more reason to. (Check out my Quick Start Guide to RSS for Educators if you haven’t already done so…I’ll be updating it soon now, too.) The news you want comes to you instead of you having to go find it. Since Google uses has over 4,500 sources in their news database, odds are you can track pretty much whatever you are interested in.
As Tim points out, however, the key to using this well is to go through the advanced search. There you can search for exact phrases, limit your search to certain publications or to a geographic area or to a certain date range and more. Just create and execute the search, then click on the RSS link on the left. (Here’s hoping Google makes the link a bit more obvious…)
You have to be prepared to tweak this as you go; see what you get for a few days and then revisit. But this is a skill that I think every teacher needs to master, and needs to teach all of her students. And from a research standpoint, it’s a great way to begin to understand the power of RSS.
Addendum: Don’t forget that if you do want to limit your search to one publication, you can find a growing list of Google News sources courtesy the Private Radio blog.
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