Identifying trends in research can help you
- understand the evolution of ideas over time
- spot new theories that emerge
- identify theories that have been discredited, and
- follow current debates in a field.
One simple method for finding related research is to look at references in the current source (eg. the footnotes in an article; the bibliography in a book) and find other sources that may be relevant to your research. Once you find a citation, use Advanced Search on OneSearch@IU to track it down. You can also ask a librarian for help.
IU Libraries has other tools that help you identify the direction of research:
- Scopus is a comprehensive database of abstracts and citations of peer-reviewed literature, scientific books, and conference proceedings covering. It delivers comprehensive information on publications in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities. It can show you related literature in a variety of ways, and can indicate who has cited a source as well as coverage of the literature in public policy, news and social media.
- Google Scholar can also tell you who cited a source and help you find related literature.