What is it?
Hein’s ScholarCheck is an accumulation of articles in HeinOnline libraries that list the number of times an article has been cited by other articles. It is similar to Westlaw’s “Keycite” feature or LexisNexis’ “Shepardize” feature. The difference is that instead of looking up case law and its current standing and influence (if any) on the courts, you are looking up articles and their level of influence on that topic (the topic you are researching) which can better help you organize the best articles to cite when you are writing your memorandum, brief, or article.
How do you use it?
There are a couple different ways to use the feature, it can be found at the page viewing level using the citations on page feature to link directly to cited material in HeinOnline or you can also view a list of articles that cite the article or document you are reading. There is a ScholarCheck icon with the words “Articles that cite this document.”
Click on this link to view a list of articles. If there are no articles, the page you are directed to after clicking the icon link will indicate such. After finding the number of times cited, you can then view those articles by clicking on the title link.
Example:
From the Electronic Resources page of the Charlotte School of Law Library, access the HeinOnline home page and click on the link “American Bar Association Journals”. Now locate the “citation navigator”. Once you’ve located this, put in the following citation – 60 Stan. L. Rev. 2087. This is a 2007 article written by Andrew Bruck and Andrew Canter, titled “Supply, Demand, and the Changing Economics of Large Law Firms”.
After confirming this is the correct article click on the “Articles that cite this document” link. You will notice there are twenty-five (25) results. Within each article listed you will note the ScholarCheck icon is present and beside it a number which lists how many times that article has been cited. You will also note that any article not fully available on this website is highlighted in pink with a tip to search your library catalog.
Conclusion
ScholarCheck can be a powerful tool when trying to find the most heavily weighted articles on the topic you are researching, and can potentially point you to another article referenced that is more on point than the article you initially started reading.
Happy researching!
~Amber Holt, L’12~
