BEHS 210: Introduction to Social Sciences
A Library Subject Guide
Research a Topic from a Gerontology Perspective
Below are suggestions for researching a societal issue or topic. These are just suggestions--feel free to try other searches if the ones below do not match your chosen issue or topic.
- Be sure to read your classroom assignment instructions carefully!
- Please note: The searches below are links that will take you into our library OneSearch database, where you'll see the results of the search. You can then begin reviewing the articles that come up and perhaps even choose a few that you can use in your assignment, if the search closely matches your topic.
- The searches below use library search techniques: AND, OR, parentheses, quotation marks, and the * symbol. For a refresher on these techniques, please see our library guide for database searching.
Search results in the library are different than in Google. Google gives you a lot of easy-to-understand, practical information. The library will give you primarily in-depth, technically-written, scientific studies. These are called scholarly articles. They can be difficult to understand at first, but if you can choose a scholarly article that relates to your topic and then review the article carefully, you can usually extract a main idea or a relevant fact or two that you can incorporate in your paper.
Racial Issues from a Gerontology perspective
- racism AND ("African Americans" OR "Black Americans") AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
- racism AND "mental health" AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Homelessness from a Gerontology perspective
- (homeless* OR unhoused) AND "older women"
- (homeless* OR unhoused) AND "United States" AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Social Class from a Gerontology perspective
- ("social class" OR "social stratification") AND poverty AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
- ("social class" OR "social stratification") AND minorities AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Health Care from a Gerontology perspective
- "health care" AND (affordab* OR accessib*) AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
- "assisted living" AND "quality of care" AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Gender from a Gerontology perspective
- transgender AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
- "gender identification" AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Environment from a Gerontology perspective
- "climate change" AND ("well-being" OR attitudes) AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
- "green buildings" AND design* AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Immigration from a Gerontology perspective
- immigrants AND "United States" AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
- immigrants AND (community OR friendship*) AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Sexual Orientation from a Gerontology perspective
- LGBTQ* AND men AND gerontolog*
- LGBTQ* AND ("mental health" OR "well-being") AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Technology from a Gerontology perspective
- ("technological literacy" OR "technological fluency") AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
- ("video games" OR "online gaming") AND ("older people" OR gerontolog*)
Besides searching in OneSearch, you can also try searching in a gerontology-related library database. Here's a list of recommended databases for gerontology.