INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH 

SEMINAL RESEARCH

Seminal research is often called foundational, pivotal, or landmark research.

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What is Seminal Research?

Seminal works are the initial pieces that present an important or influential idea within a particular discipline. These articles are referred to (referenced) repeatedly in the literature, so you're likely to see the citations again and again. 

• There is no single strategy for finding seminal articles. Any strategy relies on thoroughly examining and synthesizing the literature.
• Don't expect to see articles labeled as seminal.
• You'll start seeing the same author and title frequently. 

Google Scholar

• Google Scholar will show you how many times others have cited an article. 
• The higher the number, the more likely it is a seminal article. 

Examples of seminal research:

1. An example of a seminal paper is the 1953 publication of A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James D. Watson and Francis Crick in the journal Nature in which they describe the structure of DNA for the first time.
   • In Google Scholar, under the article, it shows it has been cited 17,000+ times.

2. Another example is Michael E. Porter's 1996 article entitled What is Strategy? This article is considered a seminal work because it provided a clear and widely accepted definition of "strategy" and discounted many alternate views of what strategy is. The article has been cited thousands of times and has influenced business leaders worldwide.
   • In Google Scholar, under the article, it shows it has been cited 19,000+ times.

Sage Premier e-Journal Collection with Google Scholar

• Search for articles by topic or keywords. 
• Do not limit by date because seminal works can be written decades ago. 
• Click on the Abstract link. 
• Under the Abstract and Keywords, you will find a list of References. 
• Under each Reference is a Google Scholar link that will take you to the Google Scholar entry and show you how many times it has been cited. 

Dissertations & Theses Global

This database will help you know if your dissertation topic is unique and identify seminal research. 

• Search for articles by keywords or phrase (include quotation marks around your phrase, e.g., "project management"). 
• Do not limit by date or Full Text. 
• You may want to limit the Language to English. You may not want to restrict the language because you could find a dissertation in another language with an English abstract that could help you. 
• Identify dissertations similar to your topic. 
• Open the literature review and scan it for the most likely seminal books or articles. 
• Then you can do a citation analysis in Google Scholar and see how many times it has been cited.