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Ed.D: Leadership

Tips and tools to help discover more sources.

Creating a Search Alert

Search alerts are great tools to help you stay current with a topic. They can alert you when new articles or dissertations are published on your research topic. Additionally, you can be notified when the full text of a journal's new issue is available in a database. They are simple to set up and will save you time. 

Many databases offer search alert services via email or RSS feed. The video below shows you how to set up a search alert. The boxes below the video show the location of search alert options in our major databases - EBSCO, GALE, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. If you have questions, Contact Us. 

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Cited By links and Related Articles

In Google Scholar:

  • Use the Cited By option to link to more current research that has cited the article being viewed
    • You can Search Within the list of the Cited By articles to be more closely aligned with your topic
  • Use the Related articles option to see similar articles based on your search parameters
  • The video below illustrates how these two features work to generate more relevant reseach

The Reference Chain

Key terms used in this strategy:

CITED BY or Times cited 

Sources in this category have cited the original citation in their work. These are always newer publication dates than the original citation. How do you find these? 

  • Google Scholar - Click the  Cited By link found under the brief abstract on the result list.
  • Databases - Not all databases have this option. In EBSCO, you'll see the term 'Times Cited in this database' in Business Source Ultimate, APA PsycInfo, and APA PsycARTICLES.
  • Open-source research websites such as Researchgate.net or Semantic Scholar will include links to other works that have used this source. Look for the term 'Citations.' 
  • Publisher websites will also indicate if another author has cited the article.   

References

These are the citations or sources used to write the article or document.  These are always older publication dates than the original citation. How do you find a searchable references list? 

  • Google Scholar - Does not have a quick link to an article's references. Click on the article title to go to the publisher's website. From here, you'll find a link to references. 
  • Databases - If a searchable references list is available, it will be noted in the database results. Not all databases have this option. You can also access an article's reference page when viewing the full text.
  • Open-source research websites such as Researchgate.net or Semantic Scholar will include a references list.  Look for the term 'References.' 
  • Publisher websites will also include a references list.

Visualize your research

Tools like mind mapping and concept maps can help visualize the topic, subtopics, and related literature. Think of this search strategy as a precursor to an outline, an annotated bibliography, or the development of research questions. In this strategy, you will visualize your topic to help develop the literature review. Here are a couple of examples. 

Below is an example of a mind map. 
  • The blue circle is the dissertation topic.
  • Blue arrows connect to purple boxes representing the main ideas or concepts related to the topic.
  • The purple arrows connect the concept to a yellow circle with a research question tied to the topic. 
  • The yellow arrows connect the research question to a green box with an academic source that supports the research question.