I have an assignment on living situations of college students. How can I find sources on this topic?
Answer
This topic can appear challenging as it can involve topics such as living with one's parents, or living on one's own or renting v. owning.
Not sure where to start your research? Try the databases Academic Search Complete and Psychology & Behavioral Science Collection and explore suggested search strategies below. You will have to try different combinations of terms and do multiple searches to find relevant articles. Keep in mind these are just some of the terms to try.
- college students AND adulthood
- college student attitudes AND parents (this search includes results with thoughts on living situations)
- college students AND parental support (this search includes results on how parental connection supports students emotionally, socially, financially etc.)
- "community college" AND residence
- leaving home AND adults (while leaving home isn't an official subject-keyword listed in the article information, it is found in titles and body of sources so worth a search)
- living arrangements AND adulthood
Below are some search terms that may be helpful if you are exploring renting and ownership.
- home ownership AND benefits
- home ownership (by itself provides more broad results)
- renting AND home
- home AND investment
- debt AND home ownership
- finance AND home ownership
- renting AND young adults
- socioeconomic factors AND housing AND United States
These suggested databases and search strategies are just some options to help you get started, there are so many more options. Also, remember to check the Full-text and peer-reviewed (scholarly) boxes to limit your sources by type. you can also adjust by date. (For help on how to search and limit, review the EBSCOHOST Databases video.)
You can also explore event more databases from the A-Z list and try keyword searches.
Still stumped? Take a little time to think about your opinion on the topic and what points you would make to support either side, this may help you think of additional avenues to explore such as finances, social independence etc. As always, ask your instructor for guidance as it applies to the assignment instructions.
