Research Guides: First Year Seminars: FYS 198-2 Homelessness

The Research Process

Searching at Musselman Library

MUSCAT Plus This link opens in a new window
MUSCAT Plus searches for books, journal articles, media, and more in Musselman Library and beyond.

Databases - A-Z
An A-Z listing of all library databases by name or type of database (newspapers, images, etc.)
Research Guides
Research guides to databases and other resources for each discipline at Gettysburg College

Focus - Find Background Information

Gale Reference eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides a database of encyclopedias and reference sources for research. Coverage include the Arts, Business, Education, the Environment, History, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Religion, Science and Social Science. 2000 – present.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Provides research and analysis of political issues, news, the American Congress, social trends, elections, international affairs, and more. Subscribed sub-collections include: CQ Almanac, Congress Collection, CQ Magazine, and Voting and Elections Collection. 1923 – present.

Encyclopedia of Homelessness
Call Number: Ebook
ISBN: 0761927514
This encyclopedia is the first systematic effort to organize and summarize what we know about this complex topic that impacts not only the homeless but all of society. The encyclopedia focuses on the current situation in the United States with a comparative sampling of homelessness around the world.
Homelessness in America
Call Number: Ebook
ISBN: 9780275995553
v. 1. Faces of homelessness -- v. 2. Causes of homelessness -- v. 3. Solutions to homelessness.
Homelessness in America by Michele Wakin
Call Number: Ebook
ISBN: 9781440874864
Publication Date: 2022
This book provides a one-stop resource for understanding the crisis of homelessness in the United States. It covers risk factors for homelessness, societal attitudes about the homeless, and public and private resources designed to prevent homelessness and help those in need.
Homelessness: A Documentary and Reference Guide by Neil Larry Shumsky
Call Number: Ebook
ISBN: 9780313377006
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
his book presents an investigation of homelessness in the United States, a problem that has been with us since the arrival of the first English settlers nearly 400 years ago.

Develop - Find Books

Use MUSCAT Plus to find books we have at Musselman Library. You can use WorldCat to search for and request books from other libraries, but be sure to leave yourself enough time for the book to be delivered.

MUSCAT Plus
Musselman Library's catalog. Search the library's holdings for books, journals, magazines, newspapers, videos, DVDs, sound recordings, and more. TIP: Start with a keyword search and then continue your search using relevant subject headings.

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to books & other materials owned by over 10,000 libraries around the world (subject matter covers material from all time periods).

Develop - Find Scholarly Journal Articles

Use these databases to find scholarly journal articles, or even articles from magazines and newspapers, on your topic. To get full text of the articles you find, click on the PDF or HTML links within the database.

If the full text isn't available in the database, click the button.

Interdisciplinary Databases

ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Provides access to thousands of full-text scholarly journals, trade and professional titles, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, case studies, and market reports. Content covers all major subject areas, including business, health and medical, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion.

JSTOR
Provides access to full-text journals articles across all disciplines. Years of coverage: varies by journal title.

Discipline-Focused Databases

Sociological Abstracts
This database contains citations to articles in sociology, social work, and other social sciences disciplines. Coverage: 1963-Present

PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to psychology articles, conference proceedings, books, and more from 1872-present. Worldwide coverage includes references and abstracts to over 2,275 journals in over 24 languages, and to dissertations, reports and books in over 35 languages.

Public Policy

Policy Commons This link opens in a new window
Policy Commons, covering more than 16,000 policy organizations worldwide, provides access to 2.5 million full text think-tank publications, including policy reports, administrative documents, books, project and campaign documents, working papers and discussion papers, journal articles, press releases, briefs, and brochures. The platform archives lost or orphan content, with more than 30,000 publications from 350 defunct and inactive policy organizations, along with unique content licensed from a dozen publishers. The interface offers full text searching in addition to 3,400 topics tags and filters for document type, organization name and type, publication language, country of publication, and publication date.

Develop - Finding Government Information

The U.S. Government is one of the leading producers of statistical information in the world. To find what you need, think about which part of the government would collect the information. Would it be Housing and Urban Development, or someone else? To search government information available online, go to USA.Gov, the U.S. government's official web portal.

Remember that state and local governments also have departments or agencies created to deal with homelessness.

HUD.Gov U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has collected various resources regarding its programs with homelessness.
SAMHSA.gov - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
SAMHSA's topic guides are particularly helpful. Several may be helpful, but check out "Homelessness and Housing."
HUD.gov - Annual Homeless Assessment Report
"The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) is a HUD report to the U.S. Congress that provides nationwide estimates of homelessness, including information about the demographic characteristics of homeless persons, service use patterns, and the capacity to house homeless persons. The report is based primarily on Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) data about persons who experience homelessness during a 12-month period."

First Year Seminars: FYS 198-2 Homelessness

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