Gather a collection of primary sources for a topic. From the journal section of the library, select an interesting scientific paper published about 5-10 years ago. First, work back from the references cited by that paper: can you identify from the text or the article titles which are the most important and relevant to the topic? List five of these, using the proper conventions for citing articles in a reference list (see Chapter 9). Note that each of these papers will also cite other articles, always going back in time. Now using the Science Citation Index or a similar system (e.g. the Web of Science website at http://wos.mimas.ac.uk or Google Scholar at http://scholar.google.com/), work forward and find out who has cited your selected article in the time since its publication. Again, list the five most important articles found.

Step by step solution

01

Select a Scientific Article

Start by selecting a scientific article published 5-10 years ago from the journal section of the library. Make sure it is an article that you find interesting and aligns with your topic of study.

02

Identifying Key References

Use the text and titles in referenced articles section of your selected article, identify the most important and relevant ones associated with your topic. From these, select five that are extremely significant and directly related to the topic.

03

Proper Citation

List the selected references using proper citation conventions as outlined in Chapter 9. This might be in APA, MLA, or other citation styles, depending on what was specified.

04

Identifying Forward References

Use tools like Science Citation Index, the Web of Science website, or Google Scholar and determine who has cited the initially selected article in the years following its publication. This tells us about the influence and reach of the original article in the scientific community after its publication.

05

Select Significant Forward References

From the list of papers that have cited the original article, choose the five most important and directly related to your topic. These should be papers that have made significant use of the content of the originally selected article.

06

Proper Citation of Forward References

List the selected forward references using the same citation style followed in step 3.

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