Note:

Below you will find a few suggestions for searching this topic. These suggestions aren't the only way to find materials, but they may help to get you started.

Alzheimer's Disease

I. Find Background information in Reference Sources

II. Search the Library Catalog for books

  • Open the Library Catalog, enter the phrase "alzheimer's disease" and use the pull-down menu to select "Subject."
  • Under "Limit Your Search," scroll down to Genre. Select "more" to limit to "history," "popular works," etc.
  • Evaluate the titles you find:
    • Which titles seem to provide broader and more general information, and which titles address more specialized topics?
    • Which titles seem intended for the general public, and which titles seem to target medical or scientific professionals?
    • Pick out several titles that seem most relevant to your assignment.

III. Find current Scholarly Journal Articles

Current, scholarly articles are "secondary sources." Search the following databases to find scholarly journal articles:

IV. Find current articles in popular* magazines about Alzheimer's disease.

* "Popular magazines," in this context, refers to non-scholarly publications, written for the general public.

Steps:

  1. Enter your search terms: Alzheimer's. Try "dementia" as an alternative search term, or limit to certain topics with additional keywords ("elderly," "aging," "family caregiver," etc.)
  2. Place quotation marks around phrases;
  3. From the list of results, filter to Magazines; and select a time period;
  4. Under Publication Titles, select "more" to select specific magazines.
  5. If you wish, use the date limits on the right to restrict to a particular date range.  When did articles on Alzheimer's begin to appear in the mainstream media?

Steps:

  1. Select a geographic region, e.g. the United States
  2. Add some search terms
  3. There will be many thousands of results just searching for "Alzheimer's" in any field.  Try using the pull-down menu to limit your search terms to the Headline.  Try also limiting to a narrow date range.  Compare articles from the last three months to articles from 30 years ago.

V. Find Historical Newspaper Articles

Historical newspaper articles would be primary sources because they show how a condition or disease was understood at the time.

How was Alzheimer's discussed in the popular press in the past? Was there another term used (senility? other?)

  1. Select the Advanced Search.
  2. Add your search terms
  3. Scroll down to choose Document types.
  4. Use the date limits on the left to restrict your results to a particular date range.