Women's Studies Research Guide

  Encyclopedias and Reference Works |  Find Books |  Find Articles | CD-ROMs, Videos, etc.
Web Sites | Women's Resource Center at Truman |  Citing Sources | Help

    "Women's studies in higher education grew out of advocacy for and inquiry about women, and the experiences of the women who collectively built a new academic field.  It began spontaneously in many places and continues today--for, about, and of women around the world."   --Marilyn Jacoby Boxer, When Women Ask the Questions: Creating Women's Studies in America (1998)

This guide is to help the student and researcher locate materials in Pickler Memorial Library that relate to some aspect of Women’s Studies.  Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship, and the sources listed here cover a range of subjects related to women's issues or women's studies.
In addition to sources available at the library, a list of authoritative and relevant web sites is given.  Since the Web is an ever-changing medium, sites may be added or deleted periodically.  We hope you will find this guide useful for your needs. 

Location information:

Reference -- First Floor
Periodicals (bound and current) -- First Floor
General Collection A-K -- Second Floor
General Collection  L-Z -- Third Floor

 

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Encyclopedias and Reference Works

Subject Encyclopedias

These can be helpful for obtaining an overview of a subject and related topics.  An entry in an encyclopedia will often contain a bibliography which can lead you to more sources on that topic.

Here are several we have:

    The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide:  Asia and Oceania 
    Reference  HQ 1726 .G74  2001
    The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide: Europe
    Reference HQ 1588 .G74  2003
    The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide:  Central and South America
     Reference  HQ 1467 .G74  2003
    The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide:  The Middle East and North
    Africa   Reference  HQ 1726.5 .G74  2003
    The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide:  Sub-Saharan Africa
    Reference  HQ 1788 .G74  2003
    The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide:  North America and the
    Caribbean   Reference  HQ 1400 .G74   2003
    Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge
    4 vols.  Reference HQ 1115 .R69 2000
            vol. 1:  Ability -Education: gobalization
            vol. 2:  Education: health - Hypertension
            vol. 3:  Identity politics - Publishing
            vol. 4:  Quakers - Zionism; Index

    Women's Studies Encyclopedia  3 vols.  Reference  HQ 1115 .W645  1989
    Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers   2 vols.  Reference  HQ1236 .R29 2001
    Encyclopedia of Women in American History  3 vols.  Reference  HQ 1410 .E53  2002
    Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics  Reference  HQ 1236.5 .U6 E53  1999
   
 Subject Dictionaries

    Amazons, Bluestockings and Crones: A Feminist Dictionary   General Collection
    HQ 1115 .K73 1992
    Larousse Dictionary of Women   Reference  HQ 1115 .L37  1996
    The Dictionary of Feminist Theory   Reference  HQ 1115 .H86  1995
    The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science:  Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to
    the Mid-20th Century   2 vols.  Reference  Q 141 .B5285   2000
   
   
Subject Bibliographies 

Bibliographies are lists of sources that focus on a fairly specific subject area, for example, Women in Modern American Politics: a Bibliography, 1900 – 1995.  Sources listed in a bibliography can be books, magazines & scholarly journal articles, videos, online sources, etc.
If a bibliography is “annotated,” then an evaluative summary of each source is included.   Here are a few bibliographies relating to women studies that the library has:

    Women's Studies: A Recommended Core Bibliography, 1980-1985   General Collection
     HQ  1180 .L64 1987
    Notable Women in World History: A Guide to Recommended Biographies and Auto-
    biographies    Reference  CT 3230 .A38 1998
    Muslim Women Throughout the World: A Bibliography   General Collection  HQ 1170 .K56
    1997
    Women's Diaries, Journals and Letters: An Annotated Bibliography  Reference 
    CT 3230 .C55 1989
    Women in Modern American Politics: A Bibliography    General Collection  HQ 1236.5.U6
    1997

Biographical Sources

    Who's Who of American Women   Reference  CT 3260 .W48  latest edition (2002/03)
                                                               General Collection CT 3260 .W48  1958-59; 1964-2001

Handbooks, Almanacs & Statistical Sources
   
    Handbook of American Women's History   Reference  HQ1410 .H36  2000
    This source is structured more like an encyclopedia than a handbook, containing entries 
     from A-Z (significant women and men, events and issues), rather than chapters covering
    specific themes in the field.
    The Information Please Women's Sourcebook    Reference  HQ 1406 .I54 1995
    This is the latest edition available; while some statistics are outdated, may be useful for its
    extensive list of organizations, many concerned with women's issues.  The list is found in
     the front on pages xvi-xxv.  No addresses or web sites are given but a Google search on
     any of these organizations should bring up their web sites.
    Women's Almanac 2000  Reference  HQ 1111 .W62  2000
    Profiles of notable women in U.S. and world history, country by country survey of women,
    women in the news U.S. and worldwide, contemporary issues.
    The Almanac of Women and Minorities in American Politics  Reference 1236.5 .M3778
    1999
    Chronology of Women Worldwide   Reference  HQ 1121 .C617  1997
    Statistical Handbook on Women in America   Reference  HQ 1420 .T34  1996
    Includes statistics on various demographic characteristics (immigration, life expectancy,
   childlessness), employment/economic characteristics, health and social charactersitcs.
   Note that publication is 8 years old, and more recent statistics may be available elsewhere
    such as government web sites.  This is the latest edition available.
    The American Woman (annual)   General Collection  HQ 1402 .A4  1987-current year
   
Directories

    Breast Cancer Resource Guide for Minority Women   U.S. Documents HE 1.6/3:C 16/2000
    Guide to Graduate Work in Women's and Gender Studies  (Electronic copy)
      
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Find Books

Keyword and subject searches

There are several types of searches you can do in the library catalog to locate books and other materials.  The "default" search is a basic keyword  search and this is the appropriate search when first exploring a topic.   In keyword searching, you will often use Boolean operators and "nesting" to best tailor your search to what you need.

Use AND to limit your results:                                    Use OR to broaden your results:

    feminis* AND motherhood                                   husbands OR spouses                           
    women AND body image AND health                work OR employment   
    women AND status AND china                            cinema OR film 
  

Use "nesting" when using AND & OR together in one search:

(sexism OR discrimination) AND women         
(women OR female*) AND literacy AND Africa*
(disease OR illness) AND (elderly OR aged) AND women
                     
                        
A few tips on the keyword searches above:

--The asterisk * truncates a term and will retrieve all forms of the word that follow the truncation symbol.  For example, feminis* will retrieve feminist, as well as feminists, feminism, feminisms.  Africa* will retrieve Africa, African, Africans, Africana.

--The parentheses allows you to search for concepts similar in meaning and then combine these with a different term(s).  Remember to always place your similar terms within parentheses (the terms you are connecting with OR) when using AND & OR in one search statement.

--In the catalog, your terms are searched as a phrase.  The search,  materialist feminism will retrieve only those records in which those terms are found together with no words in between.


Results from your keyword searches will help you identify appropriate  Library of Congress subject headings that cover your topic.  Examining broader, narrower and related subject headings often lead you to more relevant items for your topic.  Below are a few Library of Congress subject headings relating to women and women's studies. 

    women--social conditions                                                                        feminism
    women--psychology                            women and literature                  feminist theory
    women--biography                              women's studies                         feminist criticism
    women--suffrage                                 women's health                           feminism and art
                                                                  women--sexual behavior            women and religion


You can also subdivide certain subject headings such as "women" or "women's studies" or "feminism"  by country, for example:

    women--afghanistan                        women's studies--india                    feminism--china
    women--south africa                        women's studies--united states       feminism--united states
    women--nigeria

or search for women of specific faiths:

    hindu women        buddhist women       
    muslim women     jewish women
    christian women       
 
             
If you cannot find a particular title or enough books on your topic in Pickler, be sure to check the MOBIUS online catalog.  When you find a book in MOBIUS, just click on the "request" button and complete the online form.  You will receive an e-mail notice once the book is here, which usually takes 2-3 business days.

  
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Find Articles

Databases in this section are restricted to use on the Truman network unless otherwise indicated.

*  denotes peer-reviewed journal
 

HQ768 S4

Sex roles*

HQ1101 H96

Hypatia*

HQ1101 J68

Journal of women's history*

HQ1101 M5514

Ms

HQ1101 S5

Signs*

HQ1101 W768

The Women's review of books

HQ1101 W77

Women's studies*

HQ1181 U5 W657

Women's studies quarterly*

HQ1206 P76

Psychology of women quarterly*

HQ1393 J68

Journal of feminist studies in religion*

HQ1402 M44

Media report to women

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Media Library

Our Media Library located on the second floor houses a large collection of videos, DVDs, sound recordings and CD-ROMS, many focusing on women and various women's issues. 

CD-ROMs

The National Museum of Women in the Arts Collection   Media Multimedia N 858.N36 A83 1998
Sybils!  An Interactive Exploration of Women in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Media Multimedia  HQ  1147 .E85 S9  1999
Wistat:  Women's Indicators and Statistics Database   Media Multimedia HQ 1154 .W57 1999
Women Go Global:  The United Nations and the International Women's Movement
Media  Multimedia  HQ 1154 .W64  2000
 

Sound Recordings  (Spoken)

Grace Paley Interview with Kay Bonetti  Media Cassette  PS 3566 A46 Z782  1986
Grandma Moses at 96  Media Cassette  ND 237 .M78 G73  1969
Great American Women's Speeches   Media Cassette  HQ 1423 .G74  1995
Lessing, Doris May  The Golden Notebook  Media Cassette  PR 9369.3 L4 G63  1984
Maya Angelou  (The Life and Work of the Noted Black Author)  Media Cassette  PS 3551 .N464 Z87  1993  2 cassettes
The State of the Sexes:  Margaret Mead Reviews the Evolution of Social Roles
Media Cassette  HQ 1121 .M38  1974

Sound Recordings  (Music)

Bella Domna: The Medieval Woman--Lover, Poet, Patroness and Saint  Media Compact Disc 
CD 3709  1988
Global Divas:  Voices from Women of the World   Media  Compact Disc   CD 2804-2806  1995
3 cds
Heartbeat:  Voices of First Nations Women  Media Compact Disc CD 5316  1995
Historical Anthology of Music by Women  Media Compact Disc  CD 3767-3768, 3769-3770 1997  4 cds
Watch and Pray:  Spirituals and Art Songs by African-American Women Composers
Media Compact Disc  CD1871  1994

Videos

Feminist Strategies   Media Video   NN72 .F45 F44  1992
Feminist Therapy    Media Video   RC 489 .F45F46  1998
Flappers: The Birth of the 20th-Century Woman   Media Video  HQ 1154 .F53  2001
Forces of Change:  Artists of the Arab World   Media Video  N7265.43 F672  1994
Goddess Remembered   Media Video   BL 473.5 .G62  1990
Hidden Faces   Media Video  HQ 1793 .Z75 H54  1990
The Impossible Takes a Little Longer   Media Video  HV 3021 .W66 I46  1988
Kathy    Media Video  HV 1659.3 W65 K37  1981
Kathy, On My Own   Media Video  HV 1659.3 .W65 K38  1985
Mapping Feminism   Media Video  HQ 1426 .M28  1993
Not for Ourselves Alone:  The Story of Elizabeth Caty Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
    Media Video (2 vols.)  HQ 1412 .N89  1999
The Oratory of Woman's Suffrage   Media Video  JK 1896 .O73  2002
Patently Offensive:  Porn Under Siege   Media Video  HQ 472 .U6P27  1991
A Room of One's Own (Virginia Woolf)  Media Video  PR 6045 .O72 Z475  1980
Simone De Beauvoir    Media Video   PQ 2603 .E362 Z55  2000
Women, A True Story   Media Video (6 videocassettes)  HQ 1236 .W63  1997
Women and Islam   Media Video   BP 163 .I76 pt. 6   1994
Women in Japan   Media Video  HQ 1761 .W66 1986

Videos & DVDs  (Drama)

Anna Karenina  Media DVD  PG 3366 .A6 D88  1998
(The library has several versions of the film, on video and DVD.  To locate these, do a TITLE search for Anna Karenina, select the "Limit/Sort" option, limiting the "document type"  to VIDEOS/FILMS).
Il Cerchio  Media DVD  PN 1995.9 .F67167 C48 2001(also on videocassette)
The Color Purple   Media DVD  PS 3573 .A425 C65 2003 (also on videocassette)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon   Media DVD  PN 1995.9 .F6712 W58 2001B (also on videocassette)
Double Happiness  Media Video PN 1995.9 .F6712 D68  1995
Entre Nous  Media DVD  PN 1995.9 .F6714 C6  1998 (also on videocassette)
Fire  Media DVD  PN 1995.9 .H55 F57  1998B (also on videocassette)
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders   Media Video  PR 3404 .F623  1997
Gertrud  Media DVD  PN 1995.9 .F67125 .G47  2001
The Hours   Media DVD  PS 3553 .U484 H68  2003
Jane Eyre  Media DVD  PR 4167 .J323  1999 (also on videocassette)
The Joy Luck Club  Media DVD  PS 3570 .A48 J623 1994  (also on videocassette)
Mother India  Media DVD PN 1995.9 .F67156 M67 2000 (also on videocassette)
The Nouba of the Women of Mount Chenoua  Media Video  PN 1995.9 .F671 N68  1990Z
The Piano  Media DVD  PN 1995.9 L6 P5  1994 (also on videocassette)
Pride and Prejudice  Media Video  PR 4034 .P723  1995
A Room With a View   Media DVD  PR 6011 .O58 R62 1987 (also on videocassette)
Taafe Fanga  Media Video  PN 1995.9 F67177 T3  1997
Thelma & Louise  Media DVD   PN 1995.9 .W6 T43  1991 (also on videocassette)
Todo Sobre mi Madre  Media DVD   PN 1995.9 .F6718 T6 2000B (also on videocassette)

This list is not exhaustive.  To locate more videos and DVDs,  go to our Searching for Videos page.

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Web Links--A-Z list

There are many sites dedicated to the area of Women's Studies and women's issues.  This is just a sampling of some very good sites.  This list include a few comprehensive sites and more substantive sites.  Most sites are recommendations from the Women's Studies Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association (http://libr.org/wss/WSSLinks/index.html) and the New York Public Library's Research Guide to Women's Studies(http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/grd/resguides/women/women.cfm).  Check back periodically for updates.


American Women: Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture--According to the description in CHOICE,  this site is "not merely a presentation of digital materials, but a gateway to doing research on the history of women in the U.S.. . .Users are guided through searching the LC catalogs, finding digital materials in the American Memory collections and other online exhibits, and finding relevant Web broadcasts. . . Highly Recommended."   CHOICE, May 2004

American Women's History: A Research Guide
This guide "provides citations to print and Internet reference sources, as well as to selected large primary source collections. The guide also provides information about the tools researchers can use to find additional books, articles, dissertations, and primary sources. . .The links to primary sources on the Internet, categorized into seventy-five sub-fields, make this a goldmine for students studying American women's history."  Reference and User Services Quarterly, Fall 2004
 http://frank.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women.html)

Center for Women & Information Technology--University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  ". . .Most notable is Jo Sanders's comprehensive (as of 2005), extensively annotated 'Bibliography on Gender and Technology in Education,' which contains nearly 700 entries and is searchable. . .The Resources section includes a brief list of selected books and journal issues about women and information technology. . .Recommended." P. Finley, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  CHOICE, January 2007.

Feminist Majority Foundation Online--Produced by the Feminist Majority Foundation, which also published Ms. Magazine, this site offers information and news not usually reported from other media.  "Up-to-date RSS feeds disseminate national and international news, job/internship listings. . .highlights FMF's work with campus activism. . .Many of the linked periodicals offer free full-text material online".  M.F. Jones, East Tennessee State University. CHOICE, Dec. , 2007.

Librarian's Index to the Internet: Women
Three main headings on this page:  "Popular Topics," Health," and "Notable Women."  Links lead to organizations, foundations, full-text biographical sources, and archival collections (e.g. "Documents from the Women's Liberation Movement," an online collection from Duke University's Special Collections library containing pamphlets, flyers and other materials published from 1969-1974).

National Women's Studies Association
"NWSA is committed to the development of scholarship and research that incorporates disciplinary, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, multicultural, and/or global methods and perspectives to advance the study and knowledge of all women. . ."  The NWSA recognizes and emphasizes the "integral connection among scholarship, activism, and teaching."
(28 May 2004  http://www.nwsa.org/greetings.html).

Wisconsin Bibliographies in Women's Studies
A collection of online bibliographies, many annotated,  published by the University of Wisconsin System Women's Studies Librarian's Office.  The list of bibliographies is arranged alphabetically by title.  The bibliographies were developed by librarians, women's studies faculty, graduate students and various staff from the Women's Studies Librarian's Office.

Women in Print: Essays on the Print Culture of American Women From the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries  (James P. Danky and Wayne A. Wiegand, eds.)". . .an exceptional overview of the of the important role women played in establishing and contributing to the US book trade. . .Highly recommended" J. Gelfland, University of California, Irvine.  CHOICE,  July/August 2006.

Women's Resource Center Library-Truman State University
This collection at Truman's Women's Resource Center has over 1,000 books, magazines and videos devoted to women's issues.  "Everything from women’s health and psychological well-being to historical, linguistic, and political issues are represented in our library."  --WRC library home page

Women's Studies Digital Archives--Association of College and Research Libraries, American Library Association

Women's Studies Librarian's Office--Women and Gender Resources (University of Wisconsin). A nicely organized subject list of web sites concerning women, including topics from agriculture, anthropology,  philosophy & feminist theory, to women of color, women & work and women's associations and organizations worldwide.

Women's Studies/Women's Issues--WWW Sites  (Joan Korenman, University of Maryland-Baltimore County)

Women's Studies Resources  (Karla Tonella, University of Iowa)--Contains a list of links arranged by topic, for example: history, literature, art, women in development, reviews of feminist theory.   A nice feature is their links to current news items concerning women, from various newspapers and online newsletters.
 

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Citing Sources
 

There are several style manuals available in the library:

Chicago/Turabian Style

A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations 
    General Collection LB 2369 .T8 1996
    Reference  LB 2369 .T8 1996

APA Style

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
    General Collection   BF 76.7 .P83 2001
    Reserve  BF 76.7 .P83 2001
    Reference  BF 76.7 .P83 2001

MLA Style

         MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
                General Collection  LB 2396 .G53 2003
                Reserve  LB 2369 .G53
                Reference  LB 2369 .G53 2003

For additional style guides and information on citing Web sites and other electronic sources, click here.

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For further assistance, visit or call the Reference Desk (660) 785-4051 or contact the Reference Librarian for Women's Studies:

Lisa M. Glaubitz, Reference Librarian
(660) 785-7412
glaubitz@truman.edu

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Last Modified 26 June 2008