Research Guides: *Gerontology: Find Articles, Book, References

Find Articles, Books, References

This page is focused on searching for Journal articles

You may also need: Books, eBooks, and Dissertations
Or references materials including: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and Handbook
For managing your materials or evaluating your sources, visit: Managing and Evaluating Sources

Searching Tips

The USC Libraries' Developing Keywords tutorial can help you practice using effective search terms so a database can find what you seek. Additionally, many databases index their records (e.g. PsycINFO and PubMed/MEDLINE). In these cases, it is important to add to your search strategies those subject terms that are related to your key words. These can be found in a Subject Index or Thesaurus. Visit the Searching Solutions Research Guide for more information and tips.

More under an item offers links to tutorials.

Citation Databases

Subject indexes in ProQuest are available under Advanced Search. An available thesaurus or index is listed with the database. In EBSCO, an available thesaurus will be in the upper navigation bar.

Abstracts in Social Gerontology This link opens in a new window
Abstracts in Social Gerontology includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to social gerontology, including the psychology of aging, elder abuse, society and the elderly, and other key areas of relevance to the discipline.
The index contains 70,000 records, which are carefully selected from the most important sources.
AGELINE This link opens in a new window
Content focus on social gerontology, which is the study of aging in psychological, health-related, social, and economic contexts. Includes abstracts of over 200 academic journals, books, book chapters, and dissertations from 1978 to present.
Biosis Citation Index This link opens in a new window
Life sciences and biomedical research database covering pre-clinical and experimental research, methods and instrumentation, animal studies, and more.
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
Most comprehensive database of full-text for nursing & allied health journals from 1937 to present. Includes access to scholarly journal articles, dissertations, magazines, pamphlets, evidence-based care sheets, books, and research instruments.
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new window
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), established in 1962, is an integral part of the infrastructure of social science research.
ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
Focuses on public policy, international relations, economic and social conditions. Includes articles, books, conference papers, government reports, and research reports, 1915-present.
PolicyFile This link opens in a new window
Public policy research indexing and abstracting, as well as full text items.
PolicyFile includes information addressing virtually all aspects of public policy. Specific themes listed include: Arms Control, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Democratization, the Department of Defense, Economic Policy, Education Policy, the European Union, Global Economics and International Trade, Health Policy and Health Care Reform, Human Rights, Immigration, Intelligence, Latin America, Science and Technology Policy, State and Local Issues, Terrorism, and Urban Policy. The database can be browsed by primary contributor or thematically and all abstracts have been linked to Home Pages, electronic mail addresses and full text documents, where available.
ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health This link opens in a new window
This database includes journals, video, dissertations, reference books and more.
ProQuest Psychology Database This link opens in a new window
This database provides abstracts and indexing for more than 640 titles, with over 540 titles available in full text. Many titles are indexed in PsycINFO.
Coverage ranges from behavioral, clinical, cognitive, developmental, experimental, industrial and social psychology, along with personality, psychobiology and psychometrics.
ProQuest Social Science database This link opens in a new window
This database offers indexing and full text for hundreds of academic journals, providing extensive coverage across a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work and sociology.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Abstract and citation database of scholarly literature in psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. Includes journal articles, books, reports, theses, and dissertations from 1806 to present.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed provides access to millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Limit your search to 'free full-text' to find items freely available without subscriptions.
Science of Aging Knowledge Environment (SAGE KE) This link opens in a new window
From October 2001 to June 2006, Science's SAGE KE provided news, reviews, commentaries, disease case studies, databases, and other resources pertaining to aging-related research.
Although SAGE KE has now ceased publication, you can still search and browse the article content on this archive site.
Social Work Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Abstract database of social work literature from 1977 to present. Topics include homelessness, child and family welfare, AIDs, aging, substance abuse, community organization, and more.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Abstract database of sociology and social and behavioral sciences literature from 1952 to present. Includes journal articles, conference papers, books, and dissertations.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary collection of journal articles, conference proceedings, and books. Collection of seven online database: Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Index Chemicus, Current Chemical Reactions, and Book Citation Index. Coverage is 1900-present.

And For Items Not Available in Full Text?

To receive articles or books that the library that are not in full text:

Use the USC Libraries' USC Libraries Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery (IDD) service
Fill out the form for the type of item you're requesting
- Borrow: book, thesis, microfilm, etc.
- Scan and Deliver: article, book chapter, conference paper
Hard copies of materials (books and DVDs) will be mailed to your house (distance-based users) or can be picked up at the Leavey library on campus; Electronic materials (book chapters or articles) will be emailed to you as a PDF

For additional information: visit IDD and Home Delivery.

Database Help Guides & Tutorials

PsycINFO Quick Reference guide
Web of Science Quick Reference Guide
PubMed Quick Start
EBSCO Conect - Support Help
Introduction to Ovid Tutorial Designed for novice users or experienced users who may need a refresher on Ovid. This course will highlight the features and functionality of the Ovid interface. It will review the various search modes that are available on Ovid and how to work with the results from those searches (i.e. printing, emailing and exporting the records). Available in other languages
Sage Journals Online Users Guide
The Wiley Online Library Training and Support

Multidisciplinary Databases

Nexis Uni (formerly LEXIS/NEXIS Academic) This link opens in a new window
Database of full text online news, legal cases, and company information from 1980 to present. Includes Nexis Dossier and Total Patent One.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Includes bibliometrics tools to track, analyze and visualize research.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary collection of journal articles, conference proceedings, and books. Collection of seven online database: Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Index Chemicus, Current Chemical Reactions, and Book Citation Index. Coverage is 1900-present.

PubMed/MEDLINE Searching Tips

PubMed and Medline uses the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to index citations. Updated annually, MeSH terms applied to journal articles are then retrieved in other search engines.MEDLINE is a subset of PubMed.

MeSH: Geriatrics (or Gerontology) - applied to articles ABOUT this branch of medicine
MeSH: Geriatric assessment, geriatric psychiatry, geriatric nursing geriatric dentistry - subject terms focusing ON these specific area of research.
Both MeSH and search limiter: Aged - can be used as a subject term or to limit articles to a those focusing on humans older than 65

PubMed@USC This link opens in a new window
PubMed provides access to millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. This version is customized for USC users to find the full-text of articles.
MEDLINE (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
MEDLINE® is a bibliographic database produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. The database contains millions of citations, derived from thousands of biomedical and life science journals, and indexed with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) from the NLM controlled vocabulary. Extending back to 1946, annual input now exceeds 700,000 citations.