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Early Childhood Education

Tracing Cited Literature: Step 1 - Noting Helpful Sources


As you read through an article, the Literature Review section will point to other sources used by the article's author to develop the background for the article.  Pay attention to these and highlight the ones that seem most useful to your work.

Other sections may also include citations, so make that highlighter your best friend.

Tracing Cited Literature: Step 2 - Following Sources Back to the Reference Page

Follow the in-text citations back to the References section to get the full article citation.

Now that you are doing the searching, you can see why formatting those references well is important.

Tracing Cited Literature: Step 3

Now that you have the full citation, you can:

Use Google Scholar to find the article by article title and then use the FIND IT @ UVM button to get the full article (the quick-hack method).
 

OR
 

Use the "Journal Titles" button on the Howe Library homepage to find the journal (the definitive way to check whether or not we own it).


 

Once you find the journal, scroll down to view the options for different years of access.  Use the year, volume, and issue to hunt down the article's full text.  

 

Tracing Sources

Good sources will lead you to good sources.  Good authors cite other good authors. 
As you start reading, keep in mind that you are also unlocking the door to many other studies.  Taking the time to explore the paths in the research is the key to being successful and developing your topic.  Give yourself the time and freedom to explore.