Following citations, also known as Citation Chaining, is the process of using one good book or article, and following the citations to find other relevant sources on the same topic.  You can follow a chain of citations backward in time or forward in time.

• Working Backward - Use the citations you find in scholarly books and articles to identify older sources on the same topic.  Then locate the full text of those materials in the library's databases.
  • In library databases, look for a section or link that says "References", "Footnotes", or "Works Cited". 
• Working Forward - In the years after a scholarly book or article is published, other researchers may cite that book or article in their own work.
  • In library databases, look for a section or link that says "Cited By" or "Times Cited." 

Please watch this short video from McMaster University to learn more about using citation chaining to find additional sources for your research papers.

Following Citations:

• gives you insight into the "scholarly conversation": how researchers are building on, talking about, and sometimes challenging one another's work.
• allows you to track the development of key findings and arguments over time.
• lets you identify key authors, publications, and journals in an area of study.

• provides a measure of scholarly impact (how influential a work is in an area of study).

Google Scholar can be helpful because it provides a "Cited By" link for many research articles.

Another helpful feature in Google Scholar is that you can connect the library's full text holdings directly to your search results in Google Scholar. Please watch this video on how to connect Google Scholar with the Simpson Library.