Researchers are having conversations with each other in the scholarly literatureEven when you're sure there's relevant information out there on your topic, it can be hard to track down those details. When you start feeling bogged down with your keyword searches, try thinking about the scholarship on your topic as a conversation between researchers. All the articles, books and other documents you find are voices in a conversation on your topic. Since the conversation is written down and referenced, you can track the voices that interest you by paying attention to citations.
As you read articles, notice frequently cited authors, significant research projects and papers, or new keywords and phrases related to your topic. You can use these leads to expand your search and find other relevant materials:
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Students often focus on the number of citations an article has received as an indicator of how important each article is in the scholarly conversation. You can find that number in the "Cited by" link in Google Scholar. Basically, a citation count shows how much attention that work has received from other scholars in the same field. This can be a useful indicator of significance!
However, citation counts can be problematic. Specifically, citation metrics have known issues with systemic racism and sexism: IBPOC scholars, female-presenting scholars, and scholars from the Global South are consistently underrepresented in citations, historically and presently. Additionally, it's important to consider citation counts in the context of how current the resource is: e.g., an article from 2022 is not likely to have many citations, simply because it was published so recently.
These factors should not detract you from paying attention to citation count — it's still a helpful indicator of significance — but please do not rely on citations alone to determine the articles you use in your work.
You've found an article, book, or other material that seems relevant to your topic. It's important to evaluate the trustworthiness of that resource, but how do you do that? How can you tell whether the information you've found is up-to-date, credible, and accurate?
Here are some important aspects to consider and questions to ask yourself when evaluating any resource.
Tip: If you want to find literature published within the last 5-10 years, look for the date limiter option. In Discovery and Google Scholar, it appears after you have conducted your search on the left-hand side of the screen.
Tip: One way to check out an author is to simply Google their name. See what you can discover about who they are, what they do, what else they have published, and how other people have responded to their work. You can also do this with organizations and publications.
Tip: You can get a sense of the conversation around a scholarly article by looking at the 'cited by' link in your Google Scholar results list. However: remember to weigh the number of citations against the currency of the document. It takes a while for material to get cited.
As you're considering each of the facets above, keep in mind the practice of lateral reading. Basically, that means that instead of drilling deeper into a single website to assess its credibility, you should look at other sources. For example, if you're wondering whether an author is really an authoritative source on a topic, you shouldn't just rely on what they say about themselves, because if they're a bad actor (or even if they aren't), that information may be misleading or just framed to seem exceptionally positive. It's better to find out what other people have to say about that author's credibility, and compare several different sources to find the consensus perspective. Good media literacy means doing this regularly for everything you read (whether it's for a class or just out in the world). It can be time-consuming, but it is also crucial to combatting disinformation and making sure you're relying on good, accurate, current information.
And of course -- if you're ever feeling lost with this process and would like some help evaluating a resource, feel free to contact the Library for assistance!
One of the hardest parts of any research process is knowing when enough is enough. It's easy to start following the trail of interesting articles only to find yourself buried in information and miles from your original research question! There's no "one easy trick" for knowing when you're done (in fact, the notion of search saturation is a whole field of study in itself), but here are a few tips to keep in mind:
