Find out basic information about women's studies
You will find basic information on women's history and women's studies by searching for overview information. Use the library's reference database to get a snapshot about specific women in history, key events from the history of feminism, and other topics.
These sources will help you pick a topic, quickly understand an event or person, and develop keywords to use when searching for scholarly articles, books, and even primary sources.
Best Bets for Background Information
- Gale eBooks: General Reference Collection This link opens in a new windowAn award-winning, hassle-free eBook experience—anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Gale’s eBook platform provides comprehensive support from many of today’s top publishers.
Collections include titles on:
Arts, Biography, Business, Education, Environment, General Reference, History, Information and Publishing, Law, LCO, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Nation and World, Religion, SATA, Science, Social Science, Technology
Find Sources for your paper
Once you have picked your topic, start looking for journals articles and books to help learn more about your women's studies topic.
Books are a great source for researchers to dig into a topic and get the big picture on an issue. Some nonfiction books have a scholarly focus and some books are more popular histories. Ask a librarian for help if you want guidance on why you might pick one book over another.
Journal articles provide in-depth analysis of a narrow and specific topic. Scholarly articles focus on research done by a researcher that is then vetted by other researchers in their field. Journal articles are key sources for understanding a topic and building your argument.
Best Bets to Find Books and Journal Articles
- Discover This link opens in a new window
Blume Library's primary search tool. This robust feature helps scholars find scholarly journals and articles, books, eBooks, music, videos, government information, and more. Input the keywords of your research to generate a results list full of articles and items covering the topic. Use boolean phrases (AND, OR, NOT) and other limiters to focus a search or modify a results list. This tool searches most of the Blume Library holdings including the Library Catalog of physical items and eResources.
Learn more about this powerful resource: DISCOVER
Reach out to a Blume Librarian for research assistance: RESEARCH ASSISTANCE - Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowGoogle Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats, times, and disciplines. **Only use academically sound resources. When in doubt, check with a LIBRARIAN
Cite your sources
You will want to cite your sources. The following guides offer detailed help on how to cite books, articles, interviews, primary sources, statistics, and more. You can also use software like Zotero to automatically collect, manage, and auto-generate citations in your paper. Ask a librarian for help if you want more information.
- Citation and Documentation GuideGuidelines and examples of citing information using other citation formats, e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago, etc..
- Research Management ToolsFree online tools, including Zotero, to help manage research and automatically generate citations.
- Zotero Citation Software guideBlume Library guide describes the free Zotero citation management program with instructions on how to install and use Zotero to easily manage and cite sources.
Other Sources
Here are a few related research guides and sources for further research on women's studies and/or local St. Mary's University events.
- The 19th NewsAn independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.
- Dorothy - Global Films about Gender and WomenA user friendly tool that can be useful for identifying films for curriculum purposes. Classic films and older productions take up a small portion of the database, and most of the content consists of films and television shows produced since 2010. International films, those directed by women, and subjects such as work and innovation, LGBTQ communities, survivors of violence, activism, and other key topics in gender and women's studies are most prominent. This free database is provided by the Office of the Gender and Women's Studies Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Economics Overarching economics research guide with sources for all types of economics topics
- Hein Online - Women and the Law (Peggy)"Collection that brings together books, biographies and periodicals dedicated to the role of women in society and the law ... provides a convenient platform for users to research the progression of women's roles and rights in society over the past 200 years. Also included are more than 70 titles ... which provide a platform to view the effect of law and culture on the female gender. "
- President's Peace CommissionA St. Mary's University institution that fosters an ethical commitment to participate in the establishment of world peace and social justice.
- Sylvia - Scholarly Books on Gender and Feminism"Inspired by Sylvia Plath's tenacity and curiosity, this growing resource of hand-selected entries identifies recent books for researchers, scholarly editions, selected memoirs, and notable works for a general audience. Records include citations that can be copied and inclusive subject categories linked to related material." This free database is provided by the Office of the Gender and Women's Studies Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Women's Studies Journals from the Blume Librarycomplete list of titles under the subject "Women's Interests" in the Journals List search
