Citation Searching
Once you have found a helpful resource, a great way to find other resources on the same topic is to look at what the author(s) cited when they created the resource or who has cited the resource after publication.
Cited References
One of your first places to look for research related to a publication is to look at the reference list for that publication. This will let you identify the resources the author used when conducting their research. Keep in mind that anything that appears on the reference list will be older than the publication you are reading--you are looking back in time to see what came before. However, this does not mean the previous research is outdated or not useful. In fact you will often find that the authors have cited seminal works and key authors in the field.
If you see a title in the reference list that looks like would be useful for your research, you search for that title using the Library. You can easily do this by copy/pasting the article's title into the NUMA Search box located on the left side of this page and on the Library homepage. If you are unable to locate the article, reach out to your librarian for help!
Citing Articles
While looking at the cited references lets you look back in time, looking at citing articles lets you move forward. Citing articles are publications that have cited the article you have found. While it isn't as simple as looking at the reference list to find these, it is well worth doing as you find the latest research on your topic. There are a few ways to find citing articles:
Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)
Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are a unique string of numbers and letters that permanently identify publications on the web. DOIs are most often assigned to research articles, however they can be applied to any digital object. DOIs exist to make retrieving digital objects easier, they are like a street address for an article!
Items that have been assigned a DOI can list the DOI in two formats, active and inactive. If the DOI is included in its active format, it appears as a hyperlink that you can simply paste into any web browser. Inactive DOIs will omit the beginning of the web address and only include the unique number/letter code that identifies the work.
Example of an active DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2020.1731560
Example of an inactive DOI: DOI: 10.1080/01930826.2021.1972730
If you have an inactive DOI there are three ways you can find the associated digital object:
It is important to note that not all articles, or other digital objects, have been assigned a DOI. If you are interested in learning more about DOIs, including history of, standards for, and benefits of DOIs visit the DOI Handbook.