Citation Reflection
I’ve been focused on the curation of citations this past month, with a focus on reflection and collection. While updating citations for my own research, I’m realizing the value of having citations, but also of gaining citations. It’s not just the work of others that matters to my learning, but my own work that may be cited by others as they continue to research and reveal learning. Citations make a difference in my reflection in two distinct ways: a) citations I collect will inform and reveal what is important to me, b) citations others make shows how my work informs new directions, not only for my own learning, but within this interconnected web of citable work.
First, after reviewing all the collected citations I’ve made in Zotero, as previously reflected in Citation Creation, this becomes a visualization snapshot of what I’m doing, what I’ve found, and what I’m collecting. I notice that the curations for the courses are higher on average than other topics. I notice that my citation work for the upcoming course is the highest one yet, and the course hasn’t even started. This is in part due to the focus on citation collection I’ve done in the previous weeks. That which is attended to, gains more attention, and reveals my bias toward finding and gathering research that will lead to my own deeper learning.
From this simple bar chart, I can make some observations of what is present and what is absent from this collection. These observations can propel me in new directions as I move deeper into this PhD course work. By sharing this chart, others can shape my citations by asking questions, prompting discussion, or aiding in future search options. This citation collection is a reflection of my interests but the ultimate purpose of this early citation reflection is to ground future citation reflections in comparison and analysis as I move further into the PhD work.
Secondly, citation reflections can come from where and when my own writing has been cited. I can still remember how excited I was to serendipitously come across an article where my name was cited and referenced [You’ve Been Cited]. Since then, I’ve found my writing cited in other works. To build a way to extend and collect these citations, as part of the PhD process, I’ve opened accounts in Google Scholar, Academia.edu and ResearchGate. Each of these repositories provide different information about citations. Google Scholar was able to provide a quick bar graph about citations so this is a starting point as I look forward to future publications.
This is the beginning of this work. I’m not viewing this in either a positive or negative light. It’s a point in time, collected and curated for comparison to another point in time. A small way to reflect about citations.
