No Results: Stuck in the Search Loop

 

• ​Your topic is too narrow if it can be answered with a simple YES or NO.
• Your topic may also be too narrow if you are unable to locate useful, if any, sources.

Our topic example on the Overview page, for instance, presents too focused of a topic on which to find sources.

Instead of using that topic, we need to expand or broaden our search to cast a wider net and find sources to build your research on.

Our topic:

• effects of opioid crisis on single-parent Appalachian families

How can we broaden the above topic?

Let's look at the topic keywords we used in our first search:

• appalachian health
• opioid abuse
• single parent households

Start by asking yourself:

• Do we need all these keywords?
• Can any elements be eliminated?
• Where can we broaden the search?

 

"Appalachian" narrows the subject of "Health" dramatically, limiting the scope to exclude any area outside the Appalachian region of the U.S. or the globe for that matter.

Is this specific aspect of the topic significant to your research or is the overall impact to the health of families nationwide important?

 

"Opioid" abuse is really the main element of our potential research question so we want to maintain at least some variation of "opioid" in our search. We have the option to search using the phrase "opioids OR opiates" to retrieve more results.

Using Boolean Operators such as OR defines how a search engine prioritizes results. Opioids OR opiates will return results with either one or both keywords.

 

"Single-parent households" is a very specific keyword and our search query may benefit from eliminating this keyword entirely.

That leaves us with the following search query:

• Appalachian Health
• Opioids OR Opiates
• Single-Parent Households

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Using our new keywords we are able to find sources to begin our research.