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Adult Education & Development : Researching Adult Education in Library Databases

Library and selected high quality web resources for research and self-study in the fields of adult learning, adult literacy and basic skills training, learning in organizations, andragogy, transformative learning, and adult development.

Starting with Keywords

Use a mix of broad and focused keywords.

Examples:

  • Core terms: “adult education,” “continuing education,” “lifelong learning,” “adult learners,” “nontraditional students,” “adult literacy,” “workforce development.”

  • Combine with concepts: retention, higher education, persistence, career training, equity, barriers, andragogy (Knowles), adult learning theory.

Sample searches to try: 

  • "adult education" AND retention
  • "lifelong learning" AND equity
  • "adult learners" AND (persistence or success)
  • "continuing education" AND "workforce development" 

Library Database Searching

Library Database search Tips 1) Advanced Search AND overlaps subjects Called Boolean logic George Boole (1815–1864) (image shows two overlapping circles) sleep AND learning 2) truncation Looks for all word endings Star is wildcard symbol asterisk (*) - shift/8 psych* finds psychology psychological psychologist etc. 3) Phrase search Search two or more words together Makes search more precise Use quotation marks "community college" "New York" "United States"

Put it all together:

Here are database-friendly searches, with unnecessary words removed:

Instead of:  "What are the causes of test anxiety?"  
Use: "test anxiety" AND cause* 

Instead of:  "What's the effect of the pandemic on mental health of college students?"
Use: COVID-19 AND "mental health" AND "college students"

Instead of: "Does using social media increase anxiety among teenagers?"
Use: "social media" AND anxiety AND teen*
 

Database searching summary:

1) Starting Your Research


   Start Your Research Here:   

  1. The search box above finds the library's books and e-books, and does a broad, shallow meta-search across 100 library databases. 
    • Sign in with your college username/password to get best results and save searches. 
  2. Then, search specific library databases below to fill in any gaps. 

Refine Your Search

  • Use filters to limit to peer-reviewed articles or set a date range (last 5–10 years for current trends).

  • Look at subject terms in ERIC and Education Source — they help you discover official topics and narrow results.

  • Save keywords and authors from articles you like to build stronger searches.

Tip for Success: If you find one really good article, look at the subject terms listed with it and use those terms in your next search. That’s often how you uncover the best materials in education databases.

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