Using AARPs Age Line Database Gateway to Aging

Using AARP’s Age. Line Database “Gateway to Aging Literature” www. aarp. org/ageline Michael D. Melinchok, Ph. D Senior Editor, Age. Line Database AARP Research Information Center

What is the Age. Line Database? • Age. Line is a free, searchable online database. • Age. Line provides summaries of aging-related journal articles, books, research reports, dissertations, videos, and consumer guides. Links to full text are provided when available. • Age. Line covers social gerontology and aging-related research from: o psychology, social work o public policy, economics o health sciences

What’s in Age. Line? • Age. Line covers a broad range of topics: o o o health and health care work, retirement, and financial issues caregiving and long-term care family and community living much, much more • Age. Line focuses on research and policy, but also includes practical content for service providers, health professionals, social workers, and older adults and their families.

What’s in Age. Line? • Age. Line is produced by AARP’s Research Information Center (library) as part of AARP’s mission to be the leading provider of information on the 50+ population. • Age. Line content comes from hundreds of publishers and organizations worldwide, including AARP. • Age. Line can be used for term papers, literature reviews, research studies, presentations, and fact finding – or for practical information about life at 50+

Finding Age. Line • Age. Line can be found on AARP’s web site or on many college and university web sites. • Ageline is always free to users. • Librarians: link to www. aarp. org/ageline or subscribe through CSA, Dialog, EBSCOHost, Ovid, or Silver. Platter. • Questions about Age. Line access? E-mail us at ageline@aarp. org.

Ageline home page on AARP. org A number of useful features are included on the Age. Line home page at www. aarp. org/ageline: o “Age. Line to Go”– 200+ topical searches o Thesaurus of Aging Terminology – PDF o “Age. Line Toolbox” – articles, research tools o Links to AARP’s Research & Policy web site and other AARP research databases o Age. Line e-newsletter sign-up (free)

Age. Line in the classroom • One-stop research tool for papers and presentations • “Age. Line To Go” feature ideal for introductory courses – recent references packaged by topic for easy browsing • Annotated bibliographies quick and easy to create • Suggested assignment: Search in Age. Line for a specific book or article, then find other sources on the same topic by searching on similar key words

Devising and refining an Age. Line search • What is the Topic you wish to search? • Come up with one or more Keywords. • Review results of your search – is this what you want? • Revise the search to make it broader or narrower. • Mark records to sort, save, or send to others. • Save your results on disk or hard copy.

Let’s take a tour of Age. Line • The following slides provide a demonstration of the Age. Line database. • Starting from the Age. Line home page, the demo will take you through the search menu, a basic search on retirement attitudes, and an advanced subject search of research on the retirement attitudes of Hispanics. • The demo will conclude with a look at the “Research To Go” feature, highlighting recent research on Medicare prescription drug coverage.

Benefits of using Age. Line • Did we mention that it is free? No log-ins, passwords • Can’t “Google” everything—general search engine results too broad and miss the “invisible web” • Covers the full spectrum of social gerontology and aging research —interdisciplinary focus (unlike ERIC, Psyc. INFO, Sociological Abstracts, etc. ) • Original, hand-crafted abstracts create value (users may not need to look at the full article) • Thorough indexing using the Thesaurus of Aging Terminology (8 th edition, 2005)

Need help or more information? Contact: Age. Line Database aarp. org/ageline@aarp. org