WOM STD 125

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Women's Studies 125: Women and Healthcare in the U.S. (Spring 2009)

Library Research Guide

Contents

Introduction

This guide is designed as an introduction to print and online resources critical for conducting research on topics related to women and healthcare in the United States located at the UCLA Library and beyond. It is 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, although not necessarily in the same library; however, a number of these point to materials beyond the campus borders.

Basic Research Strategies and Tips

  • Systems and Serendipity: Successful research is often a combination of systematic approaches and, when appropriate, serendipity.
  • 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?
  • 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., healthcare) as well as precise descriptors.
  • 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 (UCLA Library Catalog or MELVYL®).
    • Examples:
wom?n = woman or women
heal? = heals, healing, health
  • Call Numbers: Call numbers are determined by the first/primary subject heading of the publication. Thus, many (but not always necessarily all) books on women’s healthcare, 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. Many books on women's health are housed in either the Biomedical Library or Young Research Library.
  • 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, citation management system like Endnote, and/or email messages to yourself, etc. to document your research process.
  • Some things to consider when assessing the quality and usefulness of an item (for print and electronic resources):
    • Author: Credentials? Scholar? Academic field? Other publications?
    • Publisher: University press? Other scholarly publisher? Trade? Other?
    • Notes, etc.: Bibliography? Footnotes? Use to refine and/or expand research.
    • Periodical: Scholarly journal? Popular magazine?
    • Date: Original publication date (unless revised) – critically important!
    • Reviews: If a book, can you locate book reviews?
  • Off-Campus Access If you conduct research from home frequently, make sure you have set up the BOL Proxy or VPN so that you can access article databases that are restricted to UC/UCLA.

Finding Books: 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, while subject searching can often be more precise since it relies on authorized Library of Congress Subject Headings.

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 the UCLA Library Catalog 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).

  • Examples of subject headings:
Women--Health and hygiene
African American women--Health and hygiene
Women's health services
Women--Diseases
Women--Mental health

UCLA Library Catalog

http://catalog.library.ucla.edu 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 and other monographic materials, periodicals, and media. 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 journals and magazines with UCLA holdings. However, the catalog does NOT search the titles or contents of articles.
  • 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.

UC MELVYL Catalog

http://melvyl.cdlib.org/ If you want to search the holdings of other libraries in the UC system, the Melvyl Catalog is the best resource. UCLA users can request many of the materials listed in Melvyl via interlibrary loan, including journal articles and books.

Next Generation Melvyl

http://ucla.worldcat.org/ A beta project that cross-searches the UCLA Catalog, Melvyl, and WorldCat from a single user interface, including very selective article indexing.

Finding Articles: Online Indexes and Full Text Articles

While some databases do contain full text articles, others only tell you where an article has been written. In the latter case, click on the Image:Uc-elinks_mini1.gif button within the article databases to locate full-text articles, the print location, or to request interlibrary loan. These are all commercially licensed resources, so make sure to use the proxy server or VPN if connecting from home.

  • Women's Studies International An interdisciplinary indexing 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). (Licensed Resource)
  • 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. (Licensed Resource)
  • 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. (Licensed Resource)
  • Ethnic NewsWatch Full text articles from the ethnic, minority, and native press in the United States. (Licensed Resource)
  • Academic Search Complete A general multidisciplinary database that indexes journals across many different fields, with selected full text. Cross-searchable with Women's Studies International. (Licensed Resource)
  • 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. (Licensed Resource)
  • PubMed Indexes articles from about 3,900 journals covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and the preclinical sciences, dating from 1966 to the present. (Licensed Resource)
  • Global Health (CABI Public health database emphasizing international health issues. Consists of the Global health current file (1973 to present) and the Global health archive (1908 to 1973). (Licensed Resource)
  • PsycINFO Citations and abstracts for articles in 1300 professional journals, conference proceedings, books, reports and dissertations in psychology and related disciplines. Also a good source for empirical studies on mental health. (Licensed Resource)
  • CINAHL Plus Indexes journals from the fields of nursing and allied health, with coverage back to 1937. Covers nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines. (Licensed Resource)
  • PAIS International Provides international coverage to articles, books, conference proceedings, and government documents on social and political policy, political science, public administration, current affairs, and related topics, from 1972 to the present. (Licensed Resource)
  • JSTOR Online access to full back-runs of academic journals across disciplines, primarily in the social sciences and humanities. (Licensed Resource)
  • 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. (Licensed Resource)
  • Nation Digital Archive Full-text articles from the Nation beginning in 1865. Quite a good resource for current views/debates on major domestic issues, with a particular interest in healthcare issues. (Licensed Resource)
  • CQ Electronic Library A major reference resource for research in American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs. (Licensed Resource)
  • Full Text NewspapersIncludes links to full text newspapers subscribed to by the UCLA Library, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and international papers. (Licensed Resources)

Other Useful 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.
  • U.S. National Institutes of Health: Women's Health Page From the Department of Health and Human Services, this page contains links on government resources related to women's health.
  • MEDLINEplus The National Library of Medicine developed MEDLINEplus for use by both the patient and the health care professional. It provides information about specific diseases, conditions, and treatments.
  • Office on Women's Health: Quick Health Data Online Provides state- and county-level data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories and possessions. Data are available by gender, race and ethnicity and come from a variety of national and state sources. The system is organized into eleven main categories, including demographics, mortality, natality, reproductive health, violence, prevention, disease and mental health.

Further Assistance

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