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Core Advanced RW 3990

This guide accompanies the library session in the Advanced Research Writing 3990 course.

Get Started on Search Strategy 2

In this activity you will use Google Scholar. You will find out whether your article has been cited by other authors since it was published.

Instructions

Go through this page in order. Read the text, watch the silent video, and follow the instructions as you go.

Use Google Scholar's Cited By to Find More Sources

Use the "Cited by" link in Google Scholar to see who has cited an article since it was published.

Using "Cited by" with Google Scholar

This video walks through how you can use the "Cited by" link in Google Scholar.

"Cited by" allows you to do what's called "citation tracking." With citation tracking, you can look for articles and other sources that have cited this article.

This can be extremely useful when you are conducting a literature search, looking for articles and other sources of information. Just like looking at the references list for articles, looking to see who is citing an article can show you a new set of sources related to your topic. This video has no narrative audio; descriptive captions are available.

If you have further questions about how to use the "Cited by" link for searching you can contact the Lavery Librarians at LibraryReference@sjf.edu.

Lavery Library's Google Scholar Link

You Try It

  1. Go to Google Scholar using the Lavery Library link above. 
  2. Enter the title of your article or its DOI (digital object identifier) into Google Scholar's search box.
  3. Select Cited By.
  4. Review the results page for more articles that could work for your research topic. Consider the questions below. If you answer "yes" for any question, you may want to read the entire article. You may also want to save it and use it in your research project.
  • Is it a scholarly article?
  • Does it explore a question similar to my research question?
  • Does it give me more research questions I could use?
  • Does it contradict other research I have read?
  • Does it corroborate other research I have read?

Tip

Tip: Find the Google Scholar Link

You can find the Lavery Library link to Google Scholar on Databases A-Z:

Lavery library home page with arrow pointing to Find Databases button

Reflection Questions

Pause and think:

  • What’s the difference between the articles you find when you look at the references list and the articles you find when you use Google Scholar’s "Cited By?"
  • As a researcher, what can you learn by checking whether an article has been cited by other authors?