Science is a communal effort - new findings are built on a foundation of past research and form the basis for inquiries yet to be developed. Forward and backward citation searching is one method you can use to begin to understand the wider scholarly conversation around a given idea. However, it can also lead you into an echo chamber, so be sure to do some thorough searching beyond the web of related research.
Online tools for finding connected research.
Use ORs and parentheses to combine synonyms or multiple topics
(oil OR petroleum OR crude)
(antibiotic OR antiviral)
(woman OR girl OR female)
Truncate roots of important words* to find plurals and more
perform* (searches for perform, performance, performativity, etc.)
cell$
pregnan!
Insert a “wild card” [*?$!] to catch words with different spellings
wom?n
coloni#ation
odo$r
*Truncation and wild cards work differently in different databases. Check the help section of the database to learn what symbol to use and how to properly use it.
Combine concepts with AND to find more relevant sources
picasso AND Africa
internet AND privacy
bedrock AND Massachusetts AND hydrology
Use “double quotes” to find exact phrases
"rock art"
“African diaspora”
“invertible matrix”
Use proximity searching* to find words near each other
women NEAR violence
progressive NEAR/10 tax
"global warming" NEAR/20 "sea level"
*Proximity searching works differently in different databases. Check the help section of the database to learn how to properly use it.