Research Help - Draft

Library Database Searching

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Advanced Database Searching 

Pearl Growing (aka Snowballing or Reference Tracking)

Citation Pearl Growing

using one relevant source, or citation, to find more relevant sources on a topic. The searcher usually has a document that matches a topic or information need. From this document, the searcher is able to find other keywords, descriptors and themes to use in a subsequent search

Subject Pearl Growing

clicking on one subject, the searcher is able to find other related subjects and subdivisions that may or may not be useful to the search.

Articles that are nodes of key research are called citation pearls, since they are a rich source of other citations. You can also use a citation pearl as a source of keywords or relevant subject headings.

https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/c.php?g=577919&p=4282959

One of the best ways to search is to check the references of good articles. This is referred to as backward reference tracking/backward citation searching. 
You can also search in the opposite direction, for later articles that have cited one of your citation pearls. This is referred to as forward reference tracking/forward citation searching. 
Scopus and Web of Science are two databases that have this 'citing reference' feature. Citation Chaser is a tool which provides similar features, finding the articles that cite and are cited by your articles (i.e., citation pearls). Scopus and Citation Chaser, two options for reference tracking, are discussed below. 

Citation Chaser

Citation Chaser is an automated tool that retrieves articles that cite and are cited by your articles (i.e., citation pearls). As a single-purpose tool, Citation Chaser limits itself to reference tracking, making it easy to use. Citation Chaser searches the Lens.org database, which includes PubMed, PubMed Central, CrossRef, Microsoft Academic Graph, and CORE, to find articles. With Citation Chaser:

• Multiple articles or 'citation pearls' can be uploaded in bulk using a CSV/RIS file. 
• Retrieved articles can be analyzed and visualized as citation networks. 

The following steps outline how to use Citation Chaser: 

1. Input the unique article identifiers (e.g., DOIs, PMIDs, PMCIDs) associated with your articles into the "Article input" tab. There are several options for entering articles, e.g., uploading a CSV file of DOIs.
2. Select the "References" tab to view articles cited by your chosen articles. 
3. Select the "Citations" tab to view articles that cite your chosen articles. 
4. Export the results as RIS files.

Citation Chaining

https://library.carleton.ca/guides/i-want-know-about-citation-chaining

Backward Chaining

Backward chaining involves looking at a published work's references to find other material that covers similar topics.

Once you find an article or book relevant to your research topic, the references or works cited section will give you the citation information the author(s) used to develop their own ideas. This is a great way to find other sources that relate to your topic.

Resources cited in your article
will be older than the article.
will help you identify past resources on the same topic (such as theories or classic articles).

Forward chaining

Forward chaining involves researching the sources that have cited a particular work to find more recent material covering similar topics.

A couple of databases that are really useful for forward chaining are Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science. These databases will show a list of references for a particular work if that item has been cited by other works in those particular databases.

Resources that cite your article

will be newer than the article you've already found.
will help you identify more recent, relevant research.

Be aware: Exclusively using citation chaining to locate resources can be limiting and can keep you from discovering other valuable research.

Also, be aware that not all citations are created equal. By simply looking at a bibliography you will not be able to tell which articles will be relevant to you. You will need to think critically about the resources in your chain, and judge whether they are useful to you.

Sometimes Cited Reference Searching can be useful to figure out if an article is valuable or not.