Building on Your Sources
If you've found a couple of good sources, but aren't sure where to go from there, no need to panic! There are a couple of tried and true methods you can use to build upon what you have.
- Check the bibliography or recommended readings
- These are the sources your author(s) found important enough to include in their work, so take a look at them to see if any are relevant
- See who's citing your source
- You can do this in several different ways, but perhaps the most accessible and easiest to do is to search for your source in Google Scholar, and then click on the "Cited by" link.
- All of these sources will have cited your original article, so they should be newer than your original source
- Look for a "Recommended" or "Related Articles" link or sidebar
- When viewing a specific source, some search engines and databases have an option to see "recommended" or "related" sources. You may not notice this option at first, though. Be sure to look at the entire of the page to see if you're missing this link or box!
- If all else fails, look at the subject headings.
- The person who created the database you're using used these terms specifically to make your source findable. If your database makes those subject headings available, take a look at them and see which ones are most useful for you. Then swap your keywords out for these subject headings instead. Your new search may have more relevant articles!