Bibliographic Mining: What is it?

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Bibliographic Mining

What is it? Bibliographic Mining is studying the bibliographies of the items you are consulting in your research & then locating and utilizing those same cited sources. For example, you might mine the bibliography of a: reference article, essay in a book, journal article.

Is it okay to do that? Absolutely. In this way, you, the contemporary researcher, can ‘trail’ the research that has come before.  This an absolutely acceptable way of locating standard sources in the field, as well as the more esoteric, that have had an influence on the work of others and thereby the associated field of study.

How do I mine a bibliography? Consult the bibliography {or footnotes} of the work(s) you are using in your research. Is it a citation for a book that has caught your attention? Check to see if the library owns this book by searching the library catalog and/or by running the title through the library’s eBook collections. Is it a citation for a magazine/newspaper/journal article that has caught your attention? Check to see if the library owns a digital copy of this magazine/newspaper/journal by using the library’s eResource Finder.

 

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