Citation chaining (also referred to as bibliographic mining) is a method by which you trace an idea or topic both forward and backward in time either by sources that have cited a particular work or through the references that a particular work has cited. This idea of linking one source to another, which then links to another, creates a chain of related sources or citations.
Citation chaining allows you to identify key authors, publications, and journals in your area of study, and understand how researchers are building on and sometimes challenging each others work. It provides insight into the scholarly conversation surrounding your research topic.
Backward chaining involves looking at the references of a work to find other material that covers similar topics.
Once you find an article or book relevant to your research topic, the references or works cited section will give you the citation information the author(s) used to develop their own ideas. This is a great way to find other sources that relate to your topic.
Forward chaining, also referred to as cited reference searching, involves researching the sources that have cited a particular work to find more recent material covering similar topics.
A couple of databases that are really useful for forward chaining are Web of Science, Google Scholar, and PsycINFO . These databases will show a list of references for a particular work if that item has been cited by other works in those particular databases.
Be aware: Exclusively using citation chaining to locate resources can be limiting and can keep you from discovering other valuable research.
Also, be aware that not all citations are created equal. By simply looking at a bibliography you will not be able to tell which articles will be relevant to you. You will need to think critically about the resources in your chain, and judge whether they are useful to you.
Sometimes Cited Reference Searching can be useful to figure out if an article is valuable or not.
