You're running out of sources. You did a search in your library's article database using appropriate keywords, but only found a small amount of articles- too few for a paper. What do you do?

You turn to your article's sources. Each article (or book, sometimes even websites) probably has at least ten sources to defend it. If your sources' sources were helpful to the author you just cited, you'll probably find it relates to the paper you're writing, too.

It's easy to do. Look at the back/end of the article/book/whatever for "references," "bibliography," "sources," or even "further reading." This should give you a huge list of new materials to look for. In some ways, once you find the first couple of articles, the rest of your sources have already been picked out for you.

When you can't think of a good topic, or are afraid of not finding enough resources, keep this quote from the Fairly Odd Parents in mind:

"That's just vague enough to work!"

For example, my literature review is due tomorrow. I really haven't had much of a topic idea, so I chose to do something (not specified) about how climate change will effect the peoples of the north. Although I do have a focus on the Inuit, I'm referring to "peoples of the north" often enough that it shouldn't be a surprise if I talk about something in Russia or Norway (which I do, actually).

Note- this might not work if you need a specific topic (although it might be specific "enough" in some cases) and/or a localized study area, both of which are needed for an actual thesis- meaning this is a good temporary measure, but not necessarily a good long-term strategy.