WST 100: Women and Society
Professor: Dr. Alejandra Elenes , Associate Professor, Women's Studies
Librarian: deg farrelly, Liaison to Women's Studies
Reference Books for a Quick Overview
Search Terms
Finding Books
Finding Journal Articles
APA Citation Style
Additional Assistance
Students will develop a research paper. The Research Paper will be conducted in four steps:
- Brainstorm and decide on the topic.
- A one-page research proposal explaining what you are researching, how you will conduct your research, what the significance of the research is, and a bibliography of 5 acceptable academic sources.
- An annotated bibliography (Using APA style) of 5 acceptable academic sources related to the topic.
- Research paper (5 pages) demonstrating results of your research, and using and citing sources, including correct paraphrasing and quoting.
Consult your syllabus for complete details on the requirements for this assignment.
On choosing a topic:
You are taking a course on Women and Society and have a syllabus outlining the class topics. Ask yourself what is missing that you would like to further explore, OR, what topic in the class really interests you.
The following Reference Books can help you select and develop a quick overview of a topic:
American Women: Who They Are and How They Live
Call Number - HQ1421.A486 West Reference
Encyclopedia of women and gender : Sex similarities and differences and the impact of society on gender.
Call Number - HQ1115 .E43 West Reference
The Greenwood encyclopedia of women's issues worldwide.
Call Number - HQ1115 .G7 West Reference
Vol. 1 - Asia and Oceania
Vol. 2 - Central and South America
Vol. 3 - Europe
Vol. 4 - The Middle East and North Africa
Vol. 5 - North Ameica and the Caribbean
Vol. 6 - Sub-Saharan Africa
Latinas in the United States
Call Number - E 184.S75 L35 West Reference
The Penguin atlas of women in the world.
Call Number - HQ1233 .S434 West Reference
Statistical Record of Women Worldwide
Call Number - HQ1101 .S73 West Reference
Women in the Third World: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Issues
Call Number - HQ1870.9 .W6548 West Reference
Women in the world : An international atlas; the atlas of women.
Call Number - HQ1233 .S43 West Reference
Women's issues.
Call Number - HQ1115 .W6425 West Reference
For suggestions on terms to use when searching for specific ethnic groups, culture, or other diversity categories such as age, religion, or sexual orientation consult the Diversity Research Web on the Fletcher Library website.
Databases and indexes use Subject Terms or Descriptors to describe the contents of the items indexed. Using the terms the database uses will help you find more items that are similar.
Finding Books in the ASU Libraries Collections
To find books: Do a keyword search in the Library Catalog using the word(s) you have in mind for topic you want to research.
- Consider using words from the glossary/vocabulary tables in the Diversity Research Web.
- To help focus your search, look at the subject headings listed in catalog record found with your keyword search.
Example: latina AND popular culture
To find relevant journal, magazine, or newspaper articles start with these indexes:
Academic Search Premier
Contains information from a wide range of areas, including business, social sciences, humanities, general academic, general science, education, multicultural, and general reference.
Contemporary Women's Issues
Provides access to global information on women and women's issues from journals, newsletters, and research reports from non-profit groups, NGOs and government and international agencies.
Issues pertaining to women and society cross every subject in every discipline. The index/database you use to locate information on your topic should depend on your topic. Searching for "women and development" in a Business database will return significantly different results than the same search in a Health or Political Science database.
To see a list of indexes and databases organized by general subject area use the Fletcher Library Library Finder
There are several options for assistance in learning and/or using APA citation style:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
Call number - BF76.7 .P83 2001 West Reference Desk
This manual contains guidelines on the use of grammar, selection of titles and headers, physical format of the paper, and the creation of figures and tables in addition to many other characteristics of a well written paper. Multiple copies are available at the Reference Desk and the Reserve Desk in Fletcher Library.
Online Citation Style Guides
These guides prepared by librarians in ASU West campus Fletcher Library provide quick information on how to properly format references using the APA style by showing sample citations for different types of resources.
RefWorks
This online tool licensed by ASU Libraries and ASU IT helps manage information resources used in research, and also automatically formats citations, footnotes, and works cited in papers prepared using Microsoft Word. Requires both authentication via ASURite and establishing a personal account within RefWorks.
The RefWorks online tutorial provides information to help you get started using RefWorks. Additional help tools are built into the RefWorks interface.
APA Wizard
The APA Wizard is designed to help you create an APA (5th ed.) citation. It will take you through the steps for the most common types of cited works providing you with assistance on how to input specific information. As long as you enter the information correctly, the Wizard will result in a correct APA citation. The Wizard does not store your citations. After generating a citation using the Wizard, cut and paste the citation into a word processing document.
- Fletcher Library Reference Desk - Can help with most questions and is open most hours the Fletcher Library is open
- deg.farrelly@asu.edu - Assistance by appointment - generally reply to e-mail within 24-48 hours
- Ask a Librarian - 24-hour virtual reference service