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Ever read an article or book that made reference to another person's research? This reference
to a citation might just be the one citation that makes the difference in your assignment
or your own research. You really need this item to complete your research. What you want
to do is to chase down the citation. When you are chasing citations, you may feel like
you are chasing after a train that contains a vital piece for your research success. This
tutorial shows you a way to take the chase to a successful completion by showing you
how to locate the writings and research of others on your topic.
A common way to chase down citations is to look at the reference list at the end of an
article, chapter, or book. This is legitimate research. Others have chased down citations
before you. I have pulled up an article on my topic and as I read it, I note a reference
to another author's work and I mark the section which is of interest. I am interested in the
two citations I have highlighted, the Ginns & Ellis and the Lee & Tsai citations. I would
like to follow up by reading their research articles. What I am doing is chasing citations.
I turn to the reference list at the end of the original article and I locate the Ginns
& Ellis citation. I highlight the article title. I copy it and then go to the library
homepage and paste it into the Find It, also called Summon, search box located at the top
of the library homepage. I click the Find It button. The article I want is the very
first one listed. I can hover over the title and read an abstract to verify if I wish to
read the full text of the article. If I want the article, I then click on title or the
Full Text Online link. The article is brought up automatically. If you are doing this from
home, you will have to log in with your username and password to see the next step. I can either
read the chased article online, print, or save it to RefWorks or another citation manager
tool. I then return to the original article and
find the Lee & Tsai citation. I then repeat the steps by chasing citations: copy and paste
the article title into the Find It/ Summon box; click on the Find It button; locate the
article; hover over the title to read the abstract. If I want the article, I click on
the title or find the Full text link. If the citation is a book or chapter title,
then I need to find out if the GVSU libraries own a copy of the book. If the citation is
a chapter in a book, you chase down the book where the chapter appears. I type in the book
title in the Find It/Summon box. Another way to chase citations is to using
Google Scholar. The Google Scholar address is www.scholar.google.com You must have personalized
your Scholar settings to have access to the Get It @ GVSU.
A final reminder is that chasing citations is only *one* way of finding research. You
are still expected to search appropriate databases to locate more recent or pertinent items for
your assignment or research. Chasing citations is only one method in the research process.
There is no need to feel that you are on a treadmill when chasing citations. Chasing
important articles is something all scholars do. If you have any questions, please do not
hesitate to contact your librarian or the professional staff at the GVSU Libraries'
service desks.