Education: Research Tips & Citation Tools

Make the most of the sources you've already found by:

1. Mining the bibliographies/citations: Take advantage of the author's excellent literature review by seeking out their cited sources for yourself. While several databases enable you to search for citations (including Scopus and Web of Science), I recommend using Google Scholar. If you're off-campus, make sure it's set up to show "Check for Full-Text @ UW" links (in Scholar, click Settings - Library links - search for University of Washington Libraries - Save); then, just copy and paste the title of the article into the search box. You can also add the author's last name or other information by clicking the downward arrow on the right side of the search box.


2. Searching for cited works: If you've found an article through your search process or in a bibliography that's a year or more old, there's a good chance other authors have cited that article in their own, more recent work. To find articles that cite a particular source, you have several options (including Scopus and Web of Science), but again, I find Google Scholar a good place to start. Search for the older source as you would for any other article, then look for the "Cited by" link below the title and description. Click on this link for a list of newer works that cite the older source.

Many databases, including Academic Search Complete and Google Scholar, will automatically generate citations from your search results.

You can also use one of the citation generators available on the web, a selection of which are listed below.

If you have a complex research project with numerous references to organize, you may want to consider using citation management software, the options for which are detailed in the boxes below.

RefWorks is a web-based personal citation database and bibliography creator that allow you to import, store, and share your research citations and automatically format your bibliographies into whatever style you need (APA, MLA, Chicago, and many more).

This webpage from UNC-Chapel Hill explains what literature reviews are and offers insights into their form and construction.

The guides below provides information and resources for creating APA style citations.

Note! As of August 2012 many ERIC documents published prior to 2005 have been taken off-line for the removal of sensitive personally identifiable information. You can still request these materials via interlibrary loan.