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Shaping the Modern World

Guide to complement a Library Class

Following the Scholarly Conversation

Find the perfect article or chapter? Follow it!

Perhaps you read something in class or found the perfect article for your topic. You can follow the scholarly conversation of this piece by:

  • Looking at their references (citations)
  • See you has referenced them (cited them)

Their references are often at the end of the article, chapter, or book, but may sometimes be in the footnotes. These sources may also be helpful for you! Just search for the title of the book or article in OneSearch. 

Seeing who has cited their work can help you see how the scholarly conversation has developed after your perfect article was written. There are many ways to do this, but the most consistent way is via Google Scholar. 

 

Google Scholar

Let's say you really liked the book (or a chapter from the book) 

L.A. Noir: The City as Character

  • Go to scholar.google.com and search for the book title. 
  • On the results page, you find the book. 
  • Notice that it is "cited by 44"- click this link to see those works that have used this book as a reference:
    • screenshot of google scholar results as referenced in text above.
  • You can further refine these citations by checking the box Search within citing articles and put additional keywords (ex: corruption) in the search bar at the top of the page.
    • screenshot referencing where on the results page the search within citing articles options are.

Bonus: Connect Google Scholar to the BC Library

HOW TO CONNECT GOOGLE SCHOLAR TO THE BC LIBRARY

This will directly link you to articles available through the BC Library. 

Note: This does not work for books. Copy/paste book titles into OneSearch to see if we have access.