Social Sciences Librarian

Catherine Fonseca

she/her/ella

Handbooks & Encyclopedias

The Encyclopedia of Elder Care, Fourth Edition by Liz Capezuti (Contribution by)
ISBN: 9780826140524
Publication Date: 2017-11-28
More than 250 entries provides a comprehensive guide to all of the essential elements of elder care across a breadth of health and social service disciplines.
The Encyclopedia of Aging by Linda S. Noelker (Editor); Richard Schulz (Editor-In-Chief); Kenneth Rockwood (Editor); Richard Sprott (Editor)
ISBN: 9780826148445
Publication Date: 2006
omprehensive multidisciplinary encyclopedia dealing with aging processes and older adults. Intended for "the educated inquirer who needs a brief authoritative introduction to key topics and issues in aging.
Encyclopedia of Aging and Public Health by Sana Loue (Editor); Martha Sajatovic (Editor)
ISBN: 9780387337548
Publication Date: 2007
Adopts a biopsychosocial approach to the topics covered in the chapters and the entries.
Handbook of theories of aging by Bengtson et al.
ISBN: 9780826129437
Publication Date: 2016
This state-of-the-art handbook will keep researchers and practitioners in gerontology abreast of the newest theories and models of aging.

Getting Started

Starting Your Research

Brainstorm

Step 1: Brainstorm Your Topic

Brainstorming your topic is the start of any research process. This is when you're trying to figure out what topic you're interested in and see what kind of information is out there about it.

Background Information

Background information can help you prepare for further research by explaining all the issues related to your topic, especially when you're investigating a field that's unfamiliar to you. Getting more background information on a topic enables you to:

Brainstorm your topic
Collect keywords or important terms, concepts and author names to use when searching databases
Start thinking in broad terms, then narrow down your topic.
- Remember: Finding more specific aspects of your topic that you want to investigate is essential for getting a more manageable results list when searching. Less, but more relevant, information is key.
Develop a manageable research question—that is, a question that you would like answered about broad topic.

Finding Background Information

The following resources are great places to get the background research necessary for later steps in the research process:

CREDO Reference This link opens in a new window
A collection of nearly 500 encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books provides a good starting point for research.

Develop your Research Question

Step 2: Develop Your Research Question

When starting your research, it is important to develop a research question to keep your searches structured and to keep the scope of the resources you find relevant. A research question is a question that you would like answered about broad topic.

Things to consider:

What questions do you want to answer? Are these questions new and innovative?
What audiences do you want to reach and how do you want them to be influenced?
What is the purpose of the research you want to use to test your hypothesis?

Search Strategy

Step 3: Define Your Search Strategy

Keywords are phrases or terms that search engines use to find resources by matching search terms entered to indexed terms in the record. Build your keywords by pulling out the main points of your research questions and by developing additional terms that describe the articles you are hoping to find.

Gerontology