Question of the Week: searching frustrations

Q: I need help finding sources for my topic. I want to write about how animal abuse is related to human abuse. When I search, I can't find any good sources.

A: We were eventually able to find some sources. If your topic is causing you trouble, there could be two problems: where your searching or what keywords you're using to search. In this case, the problem was the keywords.

Here are some tips:

• Trial and error is your friend, but when you get frustrated seek help from professional searcher - ask your librarian! We're happy to help.
• Try thinking of related terms and synonyms. For this topic we had luck with "cruelty to animals" and "child abuse" or "spousal abuse." Using "abuse" on it's own was too broad.
• Subject headings can be your friend too. Once you find an article or other source that you like, you can use those subject terms. I searched for "animal abuse," but one of the subjects was "cruely to animals." I was able to search that and come up with more sources.

- Elaine Settergren, Online Librarian