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 Guide to finding resources in the George T. Potter library

The Elderly and the Law

    February 21, 2008

     Shirley Knight, Reference Librarian                 Peggy McLaughlin, Professor

      sknight@ramapo.edu,L308, X7315              LAWS 310

 I. Library Homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu

  • Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.

II. Finding Books at the Potter Library

  • Catalog: use this to find books, journal titles NOT ARTICLES, government documents, reserve items, music,and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.
  • Search the catalog using Keywords to find material
    • For example: search for "elderly" or " older people law" to locate a broad range of material and look for resources for your topics.

OR

  • Limit your search to Documents Without Shelves to access only online United States government documents.
     

         OR

  •                                                        

  • Search the catalog using Subject Browse feature ONLY if you know the Library of Congress Subject Headings, for example:

  • Subject Headings
    Estate-Planning--United States- Popular Works

    Ethics--United States

    Law and Ethics

    Older People--Legal Status, Laws, etc. --United States

    Right to Die-Law and Legislation--United States

    Wills--United States - Popular

                                                    Tips

    1. Start with broad searches. It is much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
    2. If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Subject etc. tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
    3. Can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record.

III.   The following Reference Materials are located on reference stacks on the library's 3rd floor.

               (Remember that this is also the library's entrance).

          

    General Sources
    Call Number
    Handbook of Death and Dying

    Ref  HQ 1073 .H36  2003
     Handbook of the Psychology of Aging

    Ref  BF 724 .S5 A35  2001

    Encyclopedia of Aging
    Social Security Programs Throughout the World
    Legal Sources
    		 
    The Rights of Patients
    Ref  KF 3823 .A96    2004
    The Rights of Older Persons
    Ref  KF 390 .A4 B76  1989
    Keywords in Ethics, Law & Aging: a guide to contemporary usage
    Ref  HQ  1061 .K3525 1995
    Nolo's Will Book

    KF 755 .Z9 C54 1997

    (Temporary shelved at Course Reserves, Circulation Desk)

    Stocker on Drawing Wills
    Ref  KFN 5201 .S76  1998
    1001 Legal Words You Need to Know
    Ref  KF 156 .A113   2003
    Laws and Ethics for Clinicians
    Ref  KF 3821 .Z9 H34  2002
    National Survey of State Laws
    Ref  KF 386 .N38  2003

         

          Tips

  1. Use reference books to gain an overview of your topic.
  2. Use the Bibliographies at the end of encyclopedia entries to find more information on your topic.

IV. Finding Journal Articles  (Electronic Resources)

Lexis-Nexis: Academic
Covers legal news, law reviews, federal case law, state legal research, health and medical topics and more.
WestLaw Campus 

Offers law reviews and journals, federal and state case law, state statutes, and American Jurisprudence (a legal encyclopedia),  and legal guides etc.
See Also:  
JSTOR Complete
Covers archival full-text scholarly articles in the social sciences, humanities, statistics, and business etc.
Contains more than two million citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, as well as related topics as social work, anthropology, sociology etc.
Psychology Journals
Encompasses a wide-range of topics from psychology, clinical social psychology, social welfare, criminology and more.
A full-text database that provides information on hundreds of topics such as family studies, addiction studies, urban studies and more.
A multidisciplinary database that contains many full-text articles. May also limit to scholary (peer-reviewed) journals.

(Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of experts in the discipline covered by that journal).

Tips
  1. Always switch to the Advance Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
  2. Always use Boolean Operators-AND, OR, NOT when running a search. For Example: laws and "elder abuse"
  3. Always check your Spelling if the database results are Zero.
  • Journal Finder: this provides information regarding if a journal is available full-text online, in print in the library, or available on microfilm.
  • Interlibrary Loan: allows studens to borrow a book or article that the Potter library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder page.

Both of these links can be found under QUICK LINKS on the library's homepage.

V.    Finding Web Sources

  • Use the following Subject Resource under Law to locate supplemental information on your topics .

VI.    National Law and Aging Resources

VII. Bibliography

  • Use Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper.