Here are the some tips for finding and working with dense, scholarly works:
• Adjust your search terms.
Keep track of broader, narrower, and related terms, and use them in your searches. Be as specific as possible, too! You never know how an author is going to refer to something. Think of how many ways there are to say "employment": work, job, profession, occupation, industry...
• Consider the source.
International and national organizations can provide a wealth of information, from research reports to statistical data. Always make sure you read the "About" section for every organization to determine their goals, interests, and quality standards. Don't confuse perspective for bias.
• Practice Bibliographic Mining.
Look at the bibliographies of the sources you already have. This is a great place to find additional sources that might be relevant and helpful.
• Statistics and analysis do not exist for all topics in all time periods.
Information and analysis is often limited to the type of data organizations and researchers were/are collecting at the time. For example, you can't know the economic effect of George Orwell's 1984 unless someone was out there asking people, "has the publication of 1984 had an effect on your economic status/business decisions?" (they weren't).
