Chapter 9: Narrowing and Closing Out Your Research
The precision toolkit — proximity and frequency operators — and how to recognize analytical and practical closure so you know when to stop.
Orientation
Explore the concepts from this chapterBuilding a Precision Search
Turn a research question into a precise Boolean search, watching each connector — OR, quotes, proximity, ATLEAST, a jurisdiction filter — reshape an illustrative result funnel.
Knowing When to Stop
Run the closing-out protocol, tell 'no results' from 'no law,' diagnose a stuck search, and draft an exportable research-closure note.
Practice
Apply what you’ve learnedDiagnose the Broken Search
Zero results is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Practice telling ‘no results’ from ‘no law,’ finding what went wrong, and documenting closure.
What this module will let you do
- Tell ‘no results’ from ‘no law’
- Diagnose the common ways a search goes wrong
- Build and read a search log
- Run the closing-out protocol as a checklist
Mixed Review — The Diagnostic Moves
Interleaved review across Chapters 1–9: classify the question, pick the source, and spot answers that reach past their question.
What this module will let you do
- Classify question types across source families
- Match each question to the source most likely to answer it
- Spot compound answers that reach past their question
- Cumulative, shuffled review of the Part I diagnostic skills