SPA344H: The Spanish Sensorium

Too Few Sources?

If you are not locating enough sources on your chosen topic, consider using the following strategies. Finding additional sources may require you to revisit some of the steps in the research process:  

1). Once you find one good source (even if it’s an older publication), use the citations feature (which is available in LibrarySearch and some journal databases) to find additional publication on your topic.

2). After you find one promising book or article in LibrarySearch, consult the list of the sources cited in that publication. Customarily, they are outlined in the concluding section of an article or a chapter, or the closing section of book, listed in the bibliography, works cited, or references.

3). Consult the general surveys and anthologies on the history of senses and scents to determine if they contain relevant information on your topic or if their bibliographies list publications that are pertinent to your chosen subject of research.

4). Consult the online bibliographies to locate additional sources.

5). The last option is to simply revisit your search strategy and expand it by adding more keywords to your original search. Conversely, you may wish to subtract some keywords from your original search if it contains three or more main search terms or concepts—it may indicate that you are being too specific with your search strategy.  

Consider Choosing Another Topic

If none of these strategies work, it is possible that your chosen topic is too specialized. In addition, it could also signify that, unfortunately, it has not attracted enough attention from scholars, which means that the existing research literature on your topic is limited.

If this is the case, you will need to consider choosing another subject to research for your final assignment.