Skip to Main Content

Doctoral Social Work Research: Citation Searches

This guide gives an overview of resources for doctoral research in social work (PhD and DSW)

Citation Searches

Using Citations

You can use an article for more than just content.  Check to see:

  • If there are words/phrases in the subject terms or abstract that you can use as search keywords.
  • If there are instruments, tests or measures you want to use in your own research.
  • What else the author has written.
  • If the references (cited works) are useful for your own literature review.
  • What other articles have cited this article since it was published and if they also may be useful sources.

 

Citation Searching

Citation searches are a great way to find the folks writing articles in direct conversation about a topic, issue, or theory. Citation searching means looking at a publication's reference list (folks they cited before publishing) and "cited by" list (folks who cited them after they published). The reference list will be at the end of the article, chapter, or book, and you can pick which sources you want to track down. The Cited By list is different but just as easy to find with tools like Google Scholar. Simply search for the article/publication in Google Scholar, then click the Cited By link below the title in the search results.

This will bring up a list of all the publications Google Scholar can find that cited the original article. You can do this type of search with any publication you find until you have what you need.

Image demonstrating the relationship between sources in direct conversation through citation. For any given publication, its reference list represents the relevant and related sources it cited prior to publishing, and the "cited by" list represents the relevant and related sources that cited it after its publication. Citation searching consists of looking through a publication's reference and cited by lists to find other relevant sources.

Resources for Citation Searching
The first two sources consistently offer "cited by" information, the others offers it sometimes.

Link Google Scholar to Simmons Library

Google works with libraries to determine which journals and papers they've subscribed to electronically.  Once you configure the Library Links settings in Google Scholar, links to full-text articles will display in Google Scholar when they're available through Simmons Library.

Google search results with 'Check Simmons Full Text' option to the right of one of the search results

  • Use Google Scholar From On-Campus

    • To make these links appear, just access Google Scholar from any Simmons computer and the links will automatically be included.

  • Google Scholar From Off-Campus
    • Click on Settings link in the upper right corner of Google Scholar.
    • Choose "Library Links" on the left, type Simmons University and click the "Search" button.
    • If prompted, check "Simmons University - Check Simmons Full Text"  from the list of results.
    • Click the blue "Save" button.
    • Start searching Google Scholar with links to your library's resources (you may need to authenticate yourself to access these resources).

If you have an article citation (or title) and want to get to the full-text, consider using Google Scholar Advanced Search to search by article title and then using the Check Simmons Full-Text link to get to the full article.

Google advanced search settings options