Module 2: Formulating a Research Question and Searching for Sources
Module 2: Formulating a Research Question and Searching for Sources
Using Citations to Find More Sources
Besides your standard search there are additional options to identify relevant sources including searching key journals in your field, and tracking the work of relevant authors.
Another method used by researchers is to consult the citations within an article. By consulting the citations you can find relevant titles that you might have missed in your search. The advantage of this method is that you can find sources about a subject quickly and relatively easily. The disadvantage of this method is that you are searching backward, or retrospectively, so each source you find will be older than the previous one.
This is why you need to use a forward citation searching method in combination with your backward citation search. In the forward searching method, researchers use tools within databases like Google Scholar and Web of Science to see who has recently cited your source. This way you can find new and relevant sources.
Method 1: Backward Searching
In this method, review the references used in key articles. For example, search through the article for the “References” section as in Figure 2.9 below.
Method 2: Forward Searching
In this method, see what articles have cited your key articles. For example, search through the “Cited by” section of the article as in Figure 2.10 below.
Many databases will include live links to an article’s references, as well as live links to other articles that have cited that article. The following video demonstrates how to do citation searching in Google Scholar:
CSUDH Library. Citation Tracking. Licenced under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0. Closed Captioned
Citation Mapping Tools
If you’ve ever clicked on a link titled something like “suggested for you” or “you may also like” on your favourite online store, you were taking advantage of an algorithm that uses your interests to identify related items. Algorithms search for to collate similar items. This is similar to clicking a hashtag on social media sites like Instagram.
Citation mapping tools are an academic version of this process. Not only do these tools look for items that have similar metadata, they also leverage the world of bibliometric data to create a visual representation of the world that surrounds a single article. These tools require you to enter a citation (often referred to as a “seed paper”) you are interested in further exploring. The results will vary depending on the tool you select, but in general, you will be led to further works related to the seed paper either by the similarity in their bibliographies or adjacency to similarly cited works.
When should you use a citation mapping tool?
It may be very tempting to want to rely on a tool that works quickly, and uncovers potentially new articles. However, be cautious when deciding how to make use of a citation mapping tool. The majority of these tools are using algorithms that are not transparent in the