Following citations BACKWARD means looking at the bibliography (also called the reference list or works cited) that the author cited in the original article.
It tells you what ideas and theories have shaped and influenced the researcher.
See How to Find the Full Article Listed in a Bibliography
Following citations FORWARD means looking at sources which cited the original article after its publication.
Finding out whether an article was cited by other authors helps to assess how important that article has been in shaping subsequent scholarly research. Google Scholar is a great tool for this!
Look for the "Cited by" or "Times Cited" features.
Google Scholar offers a CITED BY link at the bottom of each search result.
PQ Psychology Database is one of the library databases that feature "Times Cited". Look for the "Cited by" or "Times Cited" feature on the abstract page.
