WOM STD 185

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Selected Library Resources for Women's Studies 185: Sexy Sustainabilities and the Gendering of "Green" (Spring 2009)

Contents

Basics

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  • Off-Campus Access Do you like to work from home? Then make sure you have set up the BOL Proxy or VPN so that you can access the resources noted as (Licensed Resource). All the information you need is on the BOL Website.
  • Click on the Image:Uc-elinks_mini1.gif button within the UCLA Library catalog, Next-Generation Melvyl, or article databases to locate full-text articles or request interlibrary loans. (Look at this guide for more information about using UC e-links.) You may also use Citation Linker.


Basic Research Strategies and Tips

  • 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? Also consider what type of organization or disciplinary approach would be most likely to collect the information you are seeking. You may need to find resources in several different places.
  • 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., ecology) 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, MELVYL, article database).
Examples:
wom?n = woman or women
sex? = sex, sexual, sexuality, sexualized, etc.
  • Call Numbers: Call numbers are determined by the first/primary subject heading of the publication. Thus, many (but not always necessarily all) books on gender and the environment, 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. Important: topics for this class cover a wide range of disciplines (and libraries) so be careful not to rely on the first call number you locate. Books on feminism and motion pictures, for example, will be in a different location.
  • 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, 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?
Reviews: If a book, can you locate book reviews?

Reference Sources

The following are print and electronic reference sources that will help you get started on researching course-related topics.

Finding Books

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.

  • Examples of subject headings relevant to this course:
Women and the environment
Ecofeminism
Ecology in literature
Green movement
Nature in motion pictures
Ecology in motion pictures
Mass media and the environment
Women in motion pictures
Minorities in motion pictures
Feminism and motion pictures
Women in advertising
Feminism--Moral and ethical aspects
Environmentalism--United States--History
Environmental justice
Social justice
Sustainable development
Sustainable living
Political ecology
Human ecology--United States--History
Environmental policy--United States
Racism--United States--History--20th century
Wal-Mart (Firm)
Working class--United States

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 in Library Databases

  • 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)
  • Women's Studies International An interdisciplinary indexing database covering topics related to women and gender. (Licensed Resource)
  • GreenFILE Indexes scholarly, government and general-interest titles with content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. (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)
  • International Index to the Performing Arts (IIPA Full Text) Selected full text from journals and magazines in the performing arts, including film studies. (Licensed Resource)
  • FIAF International Filmarchive Database The FIAF database indexes international film and television journals and magazines, and covers articles written 1972-present. (Licensed Resource)
  • Film Literature Index The FLI Online contains approximately 700,000 citations to journal articles on film and television, film reviews and book reviews published between 1976-2001. (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)
  • MLA International Bibliography Covers modern languages, literatures, folklore, film and more, in articles written 1925-present. (Licensed Resource)
  • Art Full Text Coverage of the fine arts, including graphic design, photography and cartoons/animation. (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)
  • Family and Society Studies Worldwide Coverage of research, policy, and practice literature in the fields of Family Science, Human Ecology, Human Development, and Social Welfare. (Licensed Resource)
  • National Service Center for Environmental Publications Includes searchable EPA reports on the environment.
  • Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management Indexes scholarship and reports on the environment, including air quality, industrial waste, and more. (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)
  • Ecology Abstracts Includes papers on evolutionary biology, economics, and systems analysis as they relate to ecosystems or the environment. Though focused on the sciences, the database does include some indexing relevant to socio-cultural analysis. (Licenced Resource)
  • CQ Electronic Library. Includes CQ Researcher, CQ Weekly, CQ Almanac, and more to provide reliable background information on a variety of issues. (Licenced Resource)
  • Full Text Newspapers and ReviewsIncludes links to full text newspapers subscribed to by the UCLA Library, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and international papers. Also includes links to numerous other resources for finding current and historical film reviews. (Licensed Resources)

Further Assistance

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