Citation searching: Search smarter & find more

All in all, citation searching is a wonderful way to build a comprehensive body of knowledge. The databases allow you to follow a trail of cited references that weaves a web of information across the boundaries of time and subject limitations. It eliminates your need to know appropriate synonyms or subject-specific lingo in order to perform effective searches that yield inclusive results. Citation searching saves time while also increasing the likelihood that your search results will be appropriate for your needs. Citation searching is not just useful for librarians but for other searchers as well. If you need a comprehensive literature review - whether you're a librarian, faculty member, student, or scientist - you would benefit greatly from the capabilities of citation searching databases. The training program for citation searching at the University of Connecticut taught graduate students all these tricks and more. Students who attended our sessions now know how to do broad, interdisciplinary searches after they have searched their primary subject database. They also understand how to "chain" from the original article to the "backward" citations in that article and to the "forward" articles that cited the original. Finally, they see how they can use citation databases to find information about who's citing their articles, which they can use for job searching and grant proposals, promotion, and tenure. Try it yourself - you're sure to find something new!