Citation management and reference rot

• Use online tools to manage your sources (e.g., save citations, pdfs and create bibliographies).
  • We offer citation management clinics throughout the year to introduce you to tools such as Zotero and Mendeley
• Start a Perma.cc account to create permanent links for online sources (avoid reference rot!).

Two strategies for finding academic literature

• Citation chaining
• Search databases, journals and the library catalogue

Citation chaining
This is the process of using one good information source, such as an article relevant to your topic, as a starting point for finding additional relevant research. You can citation chain forwards and backwards: 

• Forward chaining
  • Start with one work, the "seed document," and look at the works that have cited this document.
  • Continue following forward the works that have cited those documents. 
• Backward chaining
  • Look at the documents cited by a seed document and then follow those backward to the documents they cite.
    Databases

• Use the Child Studies quick and detailed guides for finding databases and other resources.
• Scopus and Google Scholar provided links to works that cite a particular publication
• JSTOR text analyzer: Upload your own text or document into JSTOR and Text Analyzer will process the text to find the most significant topics and then recommends similar content on JSTOR.

Open Access journals

• Directory of Open Access Journals
• Open access at Carleton
  • Open access journals published at Carleton

Recommended peer-review journals in our library collection

• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Childhood
• Children's Legal Rights Journal
• Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures
• Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
• Childhood in Africa
• Children & Society
• Children's Geographies
• Children's Literature
• Girlhood Studies
• Global Studies of Childhood
• International Journal of Children's Rights
• International Journal of Inclusive Education
• International Journal of Law and the Family
• Journal of LGBT Youth
• Journal of Language and Politics
• Social Problems
• The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

Peer-reviewed journals related to child development and psychology

• Canadian Journal of Children's Rights (Landon Pearson Resource Centre)
• Developmental Science
• Developmental Neuropsychology
• Child Development
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychological Science
• Nature
• Science

Some publications are available either only in print or online. Others are available in both formats. Check Ulrich'sWeb for more information about individual journals.

Find grey literature

Grey literature is an important source of information in arts and social science research that:

• adds a valuable global perspective
• provides detailed overviews on specific populations
• may be only source of local information

Grey literature is defined as "information produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in electronic and print formats not controlled by commercial publishing" ie. where publishing is not the primary activity of the producing body."  ICGL Luxembourg definition, 1997. Expanded in New York, 2004

Types of grey literature

• Government information
• Dissertations and theses
• Conference proceedings
• Newspapers and magazines

Library resources

• Google Scholar (change country, for example, to find international material)
• Government information (customized Google search)
• Databases such as Canadian Business and Current Affairs and Web of Science