Cited References - go backwards in time from an article

One key element of a scholarly article is the list of references. The list of references can be labeled as cited references, works cited, bibliographies, additional resources, footnotes, references and notes. All these terms refer to the works an author used to develop his/her research.

Why should you be interested in cited references?

• To better understand an author's writing, biases and idea formation
• To find additional materials directly related to ideas addressed in the article

Citing References - go forward in time from an article

Citing references refer to articles that use a particular article as their source. NOTE: Older articles are more likely to have citing references.

Why should you be interested in citing references?

• When an article is cited multiple times it is generally more credible than an article that has never been cited.
• Looking forward in time to articles that cite a key article, can lead to more current research on a topic. These newer articles may prove or disprove the original research article.
• Identifying key researchers in a particular area of study
• If you have a research idea, try looking at citing references to a key research article. This can tell you if others have already done research in the direction you wish to research.

Many databases now include the cited references from an article within the database, but no single database will find all the citing references to an article.

The EBSCO databases: Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, CINAHL and PsycInfo citing references are limited to articles indexed in the database.