WOM STD 187

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Women's Studies 187--Visibilities and Invisibilities: The Sexual Power of Looking (Spring 2009)

Contents

Getting to this Page

Go to the UCLA Library's webpage and follow these simple steps:

  • Mouse-over "Search and Find"
  • Mouse down to "Research and Reference Help"
  • Click on "Research Guides for Courses"
  • Scroll down to Women's Studies and click on Women's Studies 187 - Visibilities and Invisibilities: The Sexual Power of Looking

Introduction

This guide is designed as an introduction to print and online resources critical for conducting research on topics related to "sexuality, representation & resistance" located at the UCLA Library and beyond. It is selective, both in terms of the sources cited and the research strategies recommended. 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, both real and virtual, beyond the campus borders.

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.
  • 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, 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, most (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. 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.
  • 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 (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).

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.
  • 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 and LGBT Life. (Licensed Resource)
  • LGBT Life An indexing resource for scholarship and magazine articles regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. Contains indexing and abstracts for more than 120 GLBT-specific core periodicals. Also contains data mined from over 40 priority periodicals as well as data mined from over 1400 select titles. (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
  • 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)
  • ComAbstracts Provides indexing and abstracts of Communications journal literature, including television, radio, and other mediums. (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

  • 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.

Further Assistance

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