LibGuides: POL 399: Interest Groups in American Politics: Bibliographic Trace

Conducting a Bibliographic Trace

As you find books and articles, pay attention to what the author of a useful source says about other scholars in the field. Most scholarly articles and books have a section where they discuss the scholars that impacted their own present work. Look for phrases like "So and so is a key leader in the field" or "So and so's methodology impact our work in significant ways" or "We disagree with so and so in these ways."

Note the scholars that your original source describes as significant. Then go find the books and articles those scholars wrote. This is how you trace the conversation happening around your topic.

By tracing cited works, you will find connections that you would otherwise miss. You will discover the patterns of the conversation around your topic. This is the way most scholars search for sources, so if you also search this way, you'll be searching in a very sophisticated and informed manner.

How to do a bibliographic trace: Search for cited books by title or author in library catalogs; for journal articles, check the Do We Have This Journal by journal name to see if we have the full text of an article. Several databases also include features telling you how often a work has been cited (like the ones below). Use Tracking Down Materials for more pointers on how to find hard copies. Please also contact me or any other librarian if you need help at any point of this process.

You can (and should) also go forward in time to see who has cited your original source.

To see who has cited a work since it was published - enter your original source in Google Scholar and look for the Cited By link underneath the information about the source.

Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Knowledge) This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary citation index covering the journal literature of the social sciences, including anthropology, history, law, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, political science, public health, social work, sociology, urban studies, and women's studies. Indexes 2,697 journals across social science disciplines, as well as selected items from 3,500 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
This search engine points toward scholarly research rather than all Web-based sources. It is stronger in the sciences than in the humanities, with social sciences somewhere in between. One interesting feature of Google Scholar is that in includes a link to sources that cite a particular item. Not all of the articles in Google Scholar are free; the library can obtain many of them for you through Interlibrary loan.

Going Forward and Backward

As a supplement to the information in the box above, here's another way to think about bibliographic traces (which we also sometimes call cited reference searches):

	BACKWARD IN TIME	FORWARD IN TIME
What is it?	Go BACKWARD in time, finding sources cited by some initial source you are using	Go FORWARD in time, finding sources that cite some initial source you are using
Why use it?	Allows you to find related sources, trace the roots of your initial source, enter research conversations more fully	Allows you to find related sources, trace the impact of your initial source, enter research conversations more fully
How is it done?	1) read lit review of your initial source, identify its most important sources related to your topic 2) use an article database (and/or library book catalog search) to find what you identified in #1 3) review findings to determine their relevance and usefulness for your research 4) REPEAT this process with another initial source!	1) go to scholar.google.com and enter citation info for your initial source 2) when citation for your initial source appears on screen, click Cited by [xxx]. This will display ALL sources in Google Scholar that have cited your initial source 3) review this list (it may be very large) and use advanced search features to narrow/focus to find more relevant sources 4) REPEAT this process with another initial source!
How do I find hard copies of the new sources I've identified?	Use Tracking Down Materials tab (above) for more tips. And contact Julie with any questions. Tracking down hard copies can be one of the trickiest parts of doing research. This is one of the most common research questions librarians get, so please reach out.	Use Tracking Down Materials tab (above) for more tips. And contact Julie with any questions. Tracking down hard copies can be one of the trickiest parts of doing research. This is one of the most common research questions librarians get, so please reach out.