Finding Sources Advanced: Forward Chaining with Summon and Google Scholar

Forward Chaining with Summon and Google Scholar

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Vocabulary:

• • • Forward chaining
    • Resource
    • Google Scholar

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Introduction

Now that you're a little more familiar with Google Scholar Links to an external site., let's talk about forward chaining. Different from backward chaining, forward chaining is all about looking at who has shared, read, and utilized a particular resource. Some of this information can be found in Summon, but much more can be found in Google Scholar. 

When you search for an article in Google Scholar, the tool will tell you how many articles have cited the original article. Finding newer sources that have referenced the original source you used is called forward chaining. 

Start with an article that is valuable for your research. 

1. 1. 1. Type the article title, using quotation marks, into the Google Scholar search bar.
      2. Underneath the abstract, note the blue hyperlinks. "Cited by" shows you the number of articles that use your article in their reference list. This is a fairly new article, meaning fewer people will have already cited it. If your article is a bit older or is important to the discipline, the number of articles citing it will likely be higher.
      3. Click on the button for 'Cited by 3'. This will show you the articles that have cited your original article.
      4. Access the articles by clicking on the links on the right-hand side column. Note: Some articles may be free to access, while others might be paid articles. You should never pay for access to an article. Make sure to link Google Scholar to your UBC Library Account (as shown earlier in Module 4). This will allow you to directly click the link to access the articles through UBC Library.  

You can also use Google Scholar to find other articles by the same author. This is particularly useful for authors in a niche area of their discipline or authors who are very influential. 

1. 1. 1. From the results page on Google Scholar, click on one of the author names. This hyperlink will take you to that author's profile on Google Scholar.
      2. From this author profile, you can see other titles by that author and see the number of times they have been cited by others. Accessing other articles that important authors have contributed to is another way of finding relevant resources to your topic.

 

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Practice:

Now is your chance to explore. Think of a topic you have an interest in and complete a basic search in Summon and in Google Scholar. Links to an external site. Take some time to look at the metrics in Summon and the features in Google Scholar. 

11. Click on the "Cited by..." link in Google Scholar. Why might this information be useful for you?
12. Click on an author name in Google Scholar. This should take you to a page of the author's works as well as other information. What might you use this information for?

(Need the worksheet? Finding Sources Advanced Worksheet.docx Download Finding Sources Advanced Worksheet.docx)

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