Dissertations

Dissertations require more research than a standard research paper, often needing a wide range of sources. Below are several tips to help you expand beyond the first few attempts at research, including following a citation trail, using review articles to expand your findings, and using a citation manager (Zotero). For more research tips, see the following Library research guides:

A citation trail is a link from one article to other articles, connected in some way to the original article. If you've already found an article that is important or relevant to your research topic, using citation trails helps you look forward or backward in time to find other relevant articles.

In OneSearch, look for red arrows next to each article. The upwards-facing arrow icon allows you to look forward in time to view a list of articles published after the original article that have cited it. This is a great way to find more recent articles that used or built on the ideas of the original article.

Use the downward-facing arrows icon to look backward in time and view a list of articles used in the creation of the original article. In other words, these are the articles listed in the original article's reference page.

Measuring an Article's Importance Using a Citation Trail

Checking an article's citation trail is also a way to determine its impact since publication. An article that has been cited numerous times since its publication may be considered an important work in field or discipline. 

Note, however, that when an article was published will impact the scope of its citation trail. Something published in 1978 will likely have a much larger trail than something published in 2023. Take note of an article's publication date when comparing its perceived impact to that of other articles.

Many assignments ask that you find research articles where the authors perform an original study (also referred to as original or primary research articles). These studies often incorporate new ideas or build upon existing concepts, making them very useful when writing your own research paper.

However, not all scholarly articles deal with original studies. Many are review articles (also referred to as secondary research or non-research articles), which synthesize and draw connections between existing articles. Review articles provide an excellent overview of existing research and often suggest new research directions, so they are a great place to start in the early stages of your own research. Below are examples of review articles:

• Literature Reviews are the broadest category of review articles, typically summarizing and making connections between articles. Research articles often include a literature review section, which places the article within the current state of research in the field.
• Systematic Reviews are studies in which the authors ask a specific clinical question, perform a comprehensive literature search, eliminate poorly done studies, and attempt to make practice recommendations based on the well-done studies. (Note: systematic reviews are also considered original research because they contain a study design.)
• Meta-Analyses are systematic reviews that combine the results of select studies into a single statistical analysis of the results.

Note: both original research articles and review articles can be peer-reviewed.

Citation managers are software tools that help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research. They're especially helpful for dissertations and capstone papers, where you'll need to find and keep track of many different articles.

Zotero is a free, open-source citation manager. Zotero is available as a desktop application or browser extension: https://www.zotero.org/download/

Here are a few things Zotero can do to help make your research project easier:

• Quickly save your research in one place (PDFs included!)
• Organize your research into folders
• Create citations or even full reference lists in APA format

For more information about how to set up and use Zotero, see the CSP Library's Zotero research guide: https://library.csp.edu/zotero