Women’s Studies

Using DELCAT

Use DELCAT, the catalog of the University of Delaware Library, to locate books on your subject. DELCAT also lists the titles of the library subscriptions to serials: magazines, journals, and newspapers. To identify journal articles, you will need to consult an index, several of which are described below.

Online Indexes to Journal Articles

Consult indexes and abstracts to locate articles on topics appearing in magazines, journals, and/or newspapers. Each index covers a different group of publications and some indexes have special features to make searching easier. The following interdisciplinary indexes may be consulted to obtain information on Women’s Studies topics.

Academic OneFile LOCATION: Library Databases: A multidisciplinary database which covers scholarly journals and general interest periodicals and provides abstracts for many of the publications included. Some entries have the full text of the article attached.

Alternative Press Index/Alternative Press Index Archive LOCATION: Library Databases: Indexes alternative and radical publications, including several feminist journals.

Ethnic NewsWatch LOCATION: Library Databases: A full-text collection of international journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports and conference proceedings devoted to women’s and gender issues. A list of publications included in Ethnic NewsWatch is available from the database description page.

GenderWatch LOCATION: Library Databases: A full-text collection of international journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports and conference proceedings devoted to women's and gender issues. A list of publications included in GenderWatch is available from the database description page.

LexisNexis Academic LOCATION: Library Databases: Provides full-text information on a variety of topics from newspapers, magazines, legal literature, and other sources. Also contained in this database is Contemporary Women’s Issues. To access Contemporary Women's Issues, select Business, then Business News. Using the Guided News Search option, set the news source to Industry News. Enter appropriate keywords, then enter Contemporary Women's Issues as the publication title.

Sociological Abstracts LOCATION: Library Databases: An index with abstracts which covers journals, conference papers, and dissertations in sociology and related social science disciplines. Coverage of gender-related topics is extensive.

Women’s Studies International LOCATION: Library Databases: An interdisciplinary combination of eight important files, containing over 116,000 records, most of which are not otherwise available electronically. Includes the following databases: Women Studies Abstracts (1984-present), Women’s Studies Database (1972-present), Women of Color & Southern Women: A Bibliography of Social Science Research (1975-present), Women’s Health & Development:An Annotated Bibliography (1995), and four databases from the University of Wisconsin.

Print Indexes to Journal Articles

In addition to using the above-mentioned online indexes, the following printed indexes may provide references that are not included in the online sources.

Gaber, Linda. Lesbian Sources: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles, 1970-1990. New York: Garland, 1993. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 75.5 .G37x 1993): A cross-referenced bibliography of journal articles written by or about lesbians that were published between 1970 and 1990.

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

These sources may be consulted to gain an overview of a particular aspect of Women’s Studies. They may also clarify names, concepts or terms frequently referred to in the literature.

Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref E 185.86 .B542 2005): This two-volume set consists of over 800 entries written on individuals, organizations, and general topics. The signed, scholarly entries, which include brief bibliographies and information on manuscript collections, are presented alphabetically. The encyclopedia also includes a chronology, a general index, and a career index to biographical entries.

Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories. New York: Routledge, 2000. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1190 .E63 2000): Provides brief explanations of terms and ideas encountered in feminist thought. Entries for individual theorists provide brief biographies that attempt “to locate them within a framework of wider discussion.”

Encyclopedia of Women and Gender. 2 vols. New York: Academic, 2001. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1115 .E43 2001): A two-volume encyclopedia that focuses on current research and scholarship pertaining to the psychology of women and the impact of gender differences on society. In addition to providing an overview of prior research, the comprehensive topical essays also provide a glossary of terms and suggested readings.

Handbook of American Women’s History. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2000. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1410 .H36 2000): Provides brief definitions and bibliographic references for significant events, organizations, concepts, and individuals.

Olsen, Kirstin.Chronology of Women's History. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ1121 .O47 1994): This volume presents landmarks in women’s history from 20,000 B.C. to 1993. Within each year, events are presented in ten different categories, e.g. general status and daily life, literature and the visual arts, religion, etc. An index allows readers to find information by name or subject.

Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1410 .R43 1998) LOCATION: Library Databases (via Credo): A reference volume that provides brief essays on various aspects of American women’s history.

Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge . 4 vols. New York: Routledge, 2000. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1115 .R69 2000): An encyclopedia that focuses on the theory and practice of feminism throughout the world. The volumes include signed topical essays with references to additional readings. Although this title does not include biographical entries on individual women, individuals are mentioned within the essays and their names are included in the general index.

Ruiz Vicki L., and Virginia Sanchez Korrol. Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia. 3 vols. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref E184 .S75 L35 2006): This set provides several comprehensive overviews, as well as more than 500 individual entries on topics and individuals significant to Latina history.

Weatherford, Doris. A History of Women in the United States: State-by-State Reference. 4 vols. Danbury, CT: Grolier Academic Reference, 2004. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ1410 .H58 2004): This set provides detailed histories of women in each state, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. Included are topical essays, detailed state histories, biographies, chronologies, statistics and local resources.

Statistical Sources

American FactFinder Location: Internet (http://factfinder.census.gov/): Statistical data from Census 2000, the 1990 Census, the Economic Censuses, and many Census surveys.

Gallup Brain Location: Library Databases: A 70-year archive of public opinion, from the Gallup Organization. Gallup Brain contains the answers to more than 136,000 questions, and responses from more than 3.5 million people interviewed by The Gallup Poll since 1935.

LexisNexis Statistical LOCATION: Library Databases: Indexes and abstracts statistical publications, and includes links to the full text of selected publications. The Tables Research Edition section provides quick access to selected statistical data. The more extensive Abstracts section indexes a larger collection of statistical publications (the American Statistical Index, the Index to International Statistics and the Statistical Reference Index), many of which are available on microfiche in the Morris Library. One of the database’s features permits searching for statistics that are broken down “By Sex.”

Additional statistical resources to consult include:

Horton, Jacqueline A. The Women’s Health Data Book: A Profile of Women’s Health in the United States. [Washington: Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health; Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation], 2001. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref RA 408. W65 W66 2001): Provides a comprehensive profile on women’s health and includes chapters on: reproductive health; infectious disease; chronic disease; mental health; use of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes; violence against women; and women’s access to the health care system.

Professional Women and Minorities. Washington: Scientific Manpower Commission. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HD 6278 .U5 P76): This publication contains employment statistics on women and minorities.

The World's Women, 2005: Progress in Statistics. New York: United Nations, 2006. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1154 .W95x 2006): This United Nations publication provides a statistical portrait and analysis of women's conditions and contributions throughout the world. Data on the United States is included. Many of the findings and statistical tables are available online at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/indwm/.

Biographical Sources

A general, comprehensive index to biographical information is the Biography and Genealogy Master Index. The following works may also be consulted.

Biography Reference Bank LOCATION: Library Databases: Full-text biographical profiles of over 38,000 figures from antiquity to the present.

Biography Resource Center LOCATION: Library Databases: A comprehensive database of biographical information on more than one million people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. The database includes: Contemporary Women Poets, Great Women in Sports, Notable Black American Women, Notable Hispanic American Women, Notable Women Scientists, and Women Filmmakers & Their Films.

Notable American Women: 1607-1950. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1971. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref CT 3260 .N57) LOCATION: Library Databases (via Credo): This publication, along with its two supplements Notable American Women: The Modern Period and Notable American Women: Completing the Twentieth Century, provides lengthy biographical articles on American women.

Who's Who of American Women. Chicago: Marquis Who’s Who. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref CT 3260 .W5): Updated every two years, this title includes biographical sketches of contemporary American women.

Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. 16 vols. Waterford, CT: Yorkin Publications, 1999- . LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1115 .W6 1999): A multivolume set that provides signed biographical essays on individual women, as well as collective entries on topics such as “Astronauts: Women in Space.” The encyclopedia also contains extensive genealogical charts outlining the positions of women in royal families.

General Bibliographies

The following titles can provide a listing of books and/or periodical articles on a given topic, and they sometimes contain other relevant information. Most of the bibliographies listed below are general in nature; however, more specialized bibliographies may be located by searching DELCAT using an appropriate Library of Congress subject heading, along with the subheading “bibliography,” for example women artists--bibliography. A keyword search on DELCAT using significant words may also retrieve bibliographies on narrower topics, e.g. women and pilots and bibliography.

Brownmiller, Sara and Ruth Dickstein. An Index to Women’s Studies Anthologies: Research Across the Disciplines, 1980-1984. New York: G. K. Hall, 1994. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1180 .B76x 1994): An index to specific essays contained in numerous anthologies about women. The volume includes subject, editor, author and keyword indexes.

Huls, Mary Ellen. United States Government Documents on Women, 1800-1990: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 1410 .H85x 1993): A two-volume publication which provides an annotated listing of nearly 7,000 documents published by governmental agencies and commissions, and Congress. The volumes include a personal author index and a subject index.

Manning, Beverly. We Shall Be Heard: An Index to Speeches by American Women, 1978 to 1985. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1988. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref PS 408 .M36x 1988): A bibliography of speeches published in books, conference proceedings, and government documents. The volume contains author, title and subject indexes, and updates Manning's earlier work, Index to American Women Speakers, 1828 to 1978 (Ref Z 1231 .O7 M36).

Reader’s Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000. LOCATION: Morris Library - Reference (Ref HQ 75.15 .R43 2000): This guide provides an overview to existing academic literature on topics pertaining to lesbian and gay studies. Each signed entry begins with a list of publications, usually book-length studies written in English, which is followed by an overview highlighting the significance of individual works. The volume also has a booklist index and a general index. indexes are included.

Internet Resources

A wide variety of Women's Studies resources are available on the Internet which can be accessed via Netscape, or another World Wide Web browser. Many excellent starting points can be found at:

Women’s Studies: Guide to Internet Resources (University of Delaware Library) LOCATION: Internet (URL: http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/wost/internet.htm)

For additional resources on International Women’s Studies see the Library research guide entitled “Women Worldwide” (URL: http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/wost/resguide/world.htm), which is available at the Reference Desk in the Morris Library.

This page is maintained by Carol A. Rudisell, Reference Department.

Last modified: 03/25/09

Women’s Studies:

A Research Guide