Skip to Main Content

Advanced Search Strategies

Advanced searching techniques to focus and control database search results while retrieving more relevant results.

Citation chasing is a method to identify works related to a known item. This is useful for identifying experts, journals/texts and other works with topics related or similar to your current research project. This is an excellent method for building depth and breadth to a research project, and supports the writing of literature reviews for theses, dissertations, and other research projects.

Backward Citation Chasing

  • Use citations in reference lists or bibliographies from books, journal articles, reports, etc., to find additional sources for your own research.
  • Identify previously published works on your topic.
  • Identify additional experts publishing works on your topic.

Forward Citation Chasing

  • Also called a "cited reference search."
  • Locating resources that have cited a specific author or work (article, book, etc.).
  • Identifying other works that have referenced a work you are using and that may be relevant to your project.

Methods for Cited Reference Searches

EBSCOhost Databases

EBSCOhost provides both forward and backward citation chasing with retrieved search results.

At the bottom of the retrieved records are a pair of hyperlinks

Cited References indicates the number of resources the article cites (backward citation searching). Clicking the link will retrieve the articles that have been cited if they are part of the database.

Times Cited in This Database indicates the number of resources that cited the work (forward citation searching). Clicking the link will retrieve the articles that cited the work being consulted.