Women's Studies 187 Senior Research Seminar: Feminist Perspectives in Research Library Research Guide Ellen Broidy  Librarian for Women's Studies 825-1324

This guide is designed as an introduction to print ("real") and online ("virtual") resources critical for conducting research on gender-related topics located the UCLA Library and beyond. It is extremely selective, both in terms of the sources cited and the research strategies recommended (or implied). All reference and "finding" sources listed are available at UCLA; however, a number of these point to materials located at libraries, both real and virtual, beyond the campus borders.

The guide covers the following areas:

1. Basic Research Strategies and Tips
2. UCLA Library Homepage
3. Finding Books / Monographic Materials
4. Finding Articles
5.. Finding Book Reviews
6.. Full-Text Journals on the Web
7. Other Useful Websites

1. Basic Research Strategies and Tips

1.1. Search tips ~Systems and Serendipity: Successful research is often a combination of systematic approaches and, when appropriate, serendipity.

1.1.1. Topic Identification and Description:  Identify a topic of interest and describe it as narrowly/focused as possible.  Consider subtopics, perspective you wish to take, geographical and/or chronological focus.  Ask: What? Who? When? Where?

1.1.2.Search Vocabulary:  Make a list of search terms (keywords) that describe your topic.  Include synonyms, relevant proper names, etc.  Avoid very common words if possible, but also include some general (e.g., United States) as well as precise descriptors.

1.1.3. Truncation:  Use truncation symbols (?, *, or #) building on the root of a word or within a term to expand your retrieval. Specific symbol depends on the system you're using (ORION or MELVYL®).

    Examples:
             wom#n    =    woman or women
             method?  =    methods, methodology, methodogical

1.1.4. Call Numbers:  Call numbers are determined by the first/primary subject heading of the publication.  Thus, most (but not always necessarily all) books on Indian Captivity Narratives, for instance, will be classed and shelved together.  Once you find a promising call number(s) for your topic, browse the shelves in this area for serendipitous discoveries of other items that might be of interest/use.

1.1.5. Search Documentation: Keep careful track of your research process: sources consulted, date ranges covered, search terms used, as well as promising citations.  Use a notebook, index cards, and/or email messages to yourself, etc.

1.2. Considerations in assessing the quality and usefulness of an item (for print and electronic resources):
 

•     Author:             Credentials?  Scholar? Academic Field (e.g. History?)  Other publications?
•     Publisher:          University Press? Other scholarly publisher? Trade Press?
•     Notes:                Bibliography? Index? Footnotes? Use to refine and/or expand your research.
•     Journal:              Scholarly journal or popular magazine?
•     Date:                  Original publication date (unless revised); critically important.
•     Reviewed:          If a book, can you locate (favorable ) book reviews on this item?

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2. UCLA Library Homepage

This is the front door to a wide variety of print and electronic resources in Women's Studies; MELVYL, the union catalog for the University of California libraries; the California Digital Library; and subject-related webpages developed at UCLA.

3.  Finding Books / Monographic Publications: UCLA Library and MELVYL® Catalogs

Identifying and locating books on your topic is most conveniently done through a keyword or subject (heading) search using the UCLA Library Catalog or the UC systemwide MELVYL® Catalog. Keyword searching (when available) is the most flexible, usually producing the largest retrieval (often including "false drops"), while subject searching can often be more precise since it relies on authorized Library of Congress Subject Headings.

3.1. Library of Congress Subject Headings

Although the advent of online catalogs with keyword search capabilities has sounded the death knell for rigidly structured subject heading/classification schemes, it is still worth considering how language is used to organize materials in a research library. For example, it is possible (and frequently extremely beneficial) to do a subject search in ORION2 or MELVYL® using Library of Congress subject headings.

A subject heading is a word or term that describes, often quite broadly, the contents of a book, journal article, videotape, dataset, etc. All nonfiction books and media are assigned one or more subject headings, allowing for multiple points of access to the same item. "Authorized" headings are found listed in Library of Congress Subject Headings, a four-volume set with a bright red cover located in YRL Reference (Z695.Z8 L524a   ).

One of the best and most efficient ways to identify subject headings for your topic is to do a keyword or title search in the UCLA Library Catalog or MELVYL and then display results in a format that shows subject headings. Note subject headings for the most promising items, click on subject heading to execute a search on that subject.

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3.2  UCLA Library Catalog

The UCLA Library Catalog provides quick and efficient access to the holdings of the UCLA Library. The catalog should be your first stop for books, periodicals, media and other monographic materials.

• The UCLA Library Catalog is directly accessible from the UCLA Library homepage;  Click on the "search and find" tab. The catalog is the first item on the drop-down menu.
  
  The UCLA Library Catalog offers the following unique features:
  
  Circulation status of material -- the catalog tells you whether a book is available (on the shelf), checked out (and date it's due back), or missing;
  Serials information -- catalog lists both print and electronic serials publications with UCLA holdings
  Personal circulation data -- the catalog allows you to keep track online of materials you have checked out of the Library. Click on My Account and key in your UCLA Bruin Card number.
  Electronic reserves -- from the Services button at the top of the page you can go to course reserves and from there link to a specific course and check to see what, if anything, is "on-reserve" for the class  in electronic format. .

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3.3. UC MELVYL® CATALOG

If your UCLA Library Catalog search does not produce the desired results, you may want to search the holdings of other libraries, particularly other UC libraries. The UC MELVYL® Catalog opens doors to worlds beyond UCLA (yes, rumor has it that there is intelligent life out there!). In addition to providing bibliographic access to the holdings of other UC libraries through the MELVYL®Catalog, the California Digital Library (CDL) contains a large number of indexes to periodical literature, some with abstracts or full-text of articles available online.

To use the MELVYL® Catalog, click on Search and Find and the Other Catalogs.  To research a topic, you may use either the default Basic Search screen or click on Advanced in the gold bar at the top of the page.  Subject searches require word(s) from authorized LC subject headings but word order does not matter.  If you are unsure of a subject heading, try a Keyword search instead.
 

4.  Finding Articles: Periodical Indexes and Abstracting Services

The most convenient direct access to periodical indexes and abstracts is through the UCLA Libray Homepage. Click on search and find and then on article databases or electronic resources. If you know a particular title, you can search for it here.

Women's Studies International
An interdisciplinary database combined from Women Studies Abstracts (1984-present), Women's Studies Database (1972-present), New Books on Women and Feminism (1987-present), Women of Color and Southern Women (1975-present), The History of Women and Science, Health, and Technology: A Bibliographic Guide to the Professions and Disciplines (1970-1995), Women's Health and Development: An Annotated Bibliography (1995), Women, Race, and Ethnicity: A Bibliography (1970- 1990), WAVE: Women's Audiovisuals in English: A Guide to Nonprint Resources in Women's Studies (1985-1990).

Contemporary Women's Issues
The Contemporary Women's Issues database provides full-text access to global information on women. Journals, newsletters, and research reports from non-profit groups, government and international agencies are easily accessed through CWI. Information on women in over 190 countries is compiled in a single collection bringing together such disciplines as sociology, psychology, health, education, business administration and political science. Coverage: 1992-present .

GenderWatch
Contains the full text of publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas from the 1970's to the present.  Provides in-depth coverage of  subjects that are uniquely central to women's lives.

Family and Soicety Studies Worldwide
Covers popular and professional issues related to family studies with materials drawn from a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, sociology, psychology, demography, health sciences, education, economics, law, history, and social work.

Sociological Abstracts
The Sociological Abstracts database contains citations for articles from over 2,600 journals, books, conference papers, and dissertations in the sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Journal articles after 1974 contain abstracts. Also includes Social Planning/Policy and Development Abstracts (SOPODA) as a sub-file, providing additional literature on policy issues topics ranging from violence to aging to disaster preparedness

Expanded Academic Index
Both an index and abstracting database as well as a source for full-text on the web. You can limit retrieval to full-text.

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5.  Finding Book Reviews

5.1. On the Web:

Generally best to use the book title as your search term.

1.  Periodicals Archive Online (formerly PCI Full Text).   Indexes thousands of periodicals in the social sciences and humanities from 1770-1995, and currently offers full text of articles for 200 complete journal runs.

Search Hint: On search page under Scope: Limit to Books Reviews Only

2. Expanded Academic Index
             Although there is no separate limit for book reviews, citations to reviews are clearly marked in the record.

5.2. . Print Resources: Available in the YRL Reference area 1^st floor or in the YRL stacks, by call number.

1. Book Review Index. 1965- . YRL Ref. Z1035 A1 B6

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6. Full-Text Journals on the Web

Access from either the UCLA Homepage E-Resources site (use dropdown menu; click on United States History and then on either Electronic Journal Collections or Electronic Journals) or search by title in the Find Online Materials portion of the homepage or in ORION2.

Expanded Academic Index

Includes many full-text journals; click on pdf file for full-text online or UC-elinks to connect either to electronic version held by UC or to find out whether UC/UCLA subscribes to the journal in which the article appears.

JSTOR

            Online access to full back-runs of academic journals across the disciplines. Includes:

       
                            Feminist Studies 1972-1997
                            Signs 1975-2002
                            Gender and Society 1987-2001
                            Sociological Methodology 1969-2002

Project Muse

    Full text of current issues (from about 1990) of scholarly journals published by university presses, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences, includes

                        differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies (fall 1998-2004; archive only)
                        Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies (2001-)

                        GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (n.3 1999;2000-)
                       Journal of the History of Sexuality (2001-)
                       Journal of Women's History (1999-)

                       Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture (2004-)

Nation Digital Archive

Full-text of articles from the Nation beginning in 1865. I recent years, quite a good resource for current views on international issues as well as major domestic issues of interest to feminist scholars.

New York Times

America's "newspaper of record," this site provides searchable access to the full-text of the New York Times from 1851 to 2001.
 

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7. Other Useful websites

WSS Links: Women and Gender Studies Web Sites
Produced by the Women’s Studies Section (WSS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries, provides topical access to a wide range of women’s and gender studies websites. 

Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR)
IWPR focuses on issues of poverty and welfare, employment and earnings, work and family issues, the economic and social aspects of health care and domestic violence, and women’s civic and political participation. Site includes links to many web resources useful in research.

Women's Studies / Women's Issues Resource Sites
Women's Studies / Women's Issues Resource Sites is a selective, annotated, highly acclaimed listing of web sites containing resources and information about women's studies / women's issues, with an emphasis on sites of particular use to an academic women's studies program. If you're looking for sites on a specific women-focused topic, you may prefer to use the following subject sections rather than scroll through the all-inclusive alphabetical listing (the "last updated" sections are marked )