When you follow a citation trail, you are looking for the resources that have either:

(1) been previously published and are referenced within the item you're reading, or

(2) been published after the item you're reading, using it as a reference 

Let's say you are reading an article published in an academic journal in 2012.

The author has referenced several other articles that you would also like to read. Using the article's bibliography, you hunt these down. In a sense, you are following a citation trail back in time. This is called backwards searching.  

As you continue to read the 2012 article, you decide this is a particularly important publication. You would like to see the articles that have been published since 2012 that have referenced it. Using a database, you hunt these articles down. In this case, you are following a citation trail forward in time. This is called forward searching.

1) Find your article in the UofT catalogue and click on the article's title. This will take you to the item record.

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2) Find and click on 'Citations' on the left side of the article's item record.

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3) "Citing This" allows forward searching. Clicking here will show you all items referencing this article that you can access through UofT Libraries.

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4) "Cited In This" allows backward searching. Clicking here will show you all items that this article references available through UofT Libraries.

Searching for academic resources through ProQuest covers many, many databases from across dozens of different disciplines. ProQuest covers databases focused on the life sciences (e.g. biology, zoology, genetics, etc.), physical sciences (e.g. physics, chemistry)social sciences (e.g. anthropology, sociology, political sciences, history), and health sciences. Additionally, ProQuest includes databases covering education, business, and engineering. It is also a primary way to access academic dissertations and theses. This wide coverage makes ProQuest very important for searching citation trails because it may include titles not available through the library catalogue or other databases.

Unfortunately, ProQuest offers no direct way to search backward for its articles. For backward searching, you will need to consult the bibliographies of the article you are working with.

1) Locate your desired article.

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2) Find "Cited by" below the article's title. This allows for forward searching.

Google Scholar is a search engine that collects a mind-blowing amount of peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, digital books, dissertations, technical reports, and 'grey literature' (e.g. unpublished, scholarly literature). Google Scholar may not seem as sophisticated as other academic resources, but it contains materials that would not be available through other databases (e.g. pre-prints of journal articles). For doing deep research, it can be a valuable ally. You will likely find more materials in a citation trail search than you will with an academic database.

Like some academic databases, Google Scholar does not offer an option to search backward from a selected article. To find materials referenced by the article you're working with, consult the bibliography.

Important: Many materials on Google Scholar are only available with an academic subscription. You will run into a paywall trying to access them. Do not pay for these materials. They are likely available through the U of T Libraries, and you can actually link your U of T Libraries account to Google Scholar, which makes these article freely available to you!

Follow the directions on this University of Toronto Library page to learn how to link your U of T Libraries account to Google Scholar!

1) Find your desired article.

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2) Below the item's abstract, find "Cited by..."