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DBA 701 Doctoral Success Lab: Seminal Works

Doctoral Success Lab is the first course in the DBA program.

Definition of Seminal Works

Seminal works are those books, or other resources, that are pivotal in that subject. They provide initial important ideas and are often quoted, cited, or referred to by other resources. ​

  • ProQuest Dissertation Database can help connect you to foundational research​. Watch the dissertation database tutorial again if you need help​ (Remember you are not using the dissertation as a source. You are using it to help you locate seminal works).  

  • READ peer-reviewed articles on your topic and take note of the authors and sources cited as seminal or important. Locate the seminal work after finding the reference at the end of the article. ​Search the library catalog by author or title of the work. 

  • Find a literature review article on your topic and notice the sources discussed as seminal or important

ProQuest Dissertation Database

Search ProQuest Dissertation Database 

Citation Connections will help you determine foundational research or seminal works related to your topic and similar dissertations.  You can also use hyperlinks on reference pages to go directly to those resources.  

citation connections in proquest

How to cite seminal works

References to reprinted, republished or reissued works contain two dates in the in-text citation: the year of publication of the original work and the year of the reprint, republication or reissue.  Separate the years wtih a slash with the earliest year first. 

(Maslow 1943/2017). 

In the reference entry the publication information of the republished version comes first then put the original publication date at the end in parentheses. 

Maslow, A. H. (2017). A theory of human motivation. Dancing Unicorn Books. (Original work published 1943). 

Learning Activity

  • You will be placed in breakout rooms​

    • Breakout room 1 will read doc #1​

    • Breakout room 2 will read doc #2​

    • Breakout room 3 will read doc #3​

  • Please discuss the information in the doc. with your breakout group

  • Choose a spokesperson​ to answer these questions when you return to class

    • What seminal work did you learn about?​

    • Why do you think it is a seminal work?

    • Who wrote it?​

    • What was the title of the seminal work and the year?​ 

Searching Tips

After you learn about a seminal work from scholarly articles, then you must locate the original work. 

  • Don't limit your search to peer-reviewed sources because many seminal works were published in books

  • Search by the author's name or by the title of the work. 

Practice Searching

Abraham H. Maslow. A theory of human motivation. (Hint: it's an ebook)

Frederick Herzberg, Bernard Mausner, Barbara Bloch Snyderman. The motivation to work. (Hint: it's a print book)

Frederick Winslow Taylor. Principles of scientific management. (Hint: it's a print book).