Women's Issues in History and Literature

Introduction

Your assignment asks you to explore a particular literary work in its historical context. The SFCC Library has a variety of resources to help you, though they are scattered among various call numbers and areas of the building. As with any assignment, it's a good idea to start early. Library research takes time. You may wish to take advantage of resources from area libraries (SCC, Gonzaga, Whitworth, etc.), and borrowing items from them usually takes at least a couple of days.

First, identify a general topic. After you do some background reading, you may need to narrow or refine your topic. Background reading is just that–skimming sources to get a general understanding of the subject. Once you have a general idea what you want to write about, you can focus your research on a particular person, time period, or whatever.

Keep track of where you get information as you go along. Few things are as frustrating as trying to compile a Works Cited list when you can't remember where you got your information!

Above all, don't hesitate to ask a librarian for help.

Suggested Print Resources

Your research will most likely include magazines and scholarly journals. To find articles you can browse current and back issues. However, it is more efficient to use an index.

ProQuest
http://library.spokanefalls.edu/_auth/journal.asp

ProQuest is the best general purpose index in the SFCC Library for a broad range of articles from 1980–present; the full text of many articles is provided online. This index is available from any campus computer; students who have Internet access from home can use this index with a current student ID number.

ProQuest is a fine index for general research, but there are many other specialized indexes available. For example, Contemporary Women's Issues (available at EWU) contains articles related to women's issues from scholarly journals and other publications on sociology, psychology, health, education, and human rights. If you elect to continue your education elsewhere, ask a librarian about indexes specific to your field.

Another good product is

Opposing Viewpoints
http://library.spokanefalls.edu/_auth/journal.asp

Although focused on contemporary topics and issues (more than historical treatment), this database might shed light on subjects of particular interest to women, e.g. birth control, domestic violence, eating disorders, rape, etc. Also includes "umbrella headings" such as feminism and women's issues.

The reference section in any library is a smaller version of the whole collection. Items in Reference are genrally not available to check out. You can of course make photocopies if you like. You can also browse similar call numbers in the circulating stacks to find sources which can be checked out.

The following are examples of reference books in our library which might be useful in writing and proofing a report in math or science.

The SFCC Library shares an online catalog with SCC at http://ccs.wash-id.net/ The catalog lists books, videos, magazines, journals, and other items held by one or both of the two libraries.

Items requested from SCC can generally be delivered to the SFCC circulation desk overnight (except on Fridays, with delivery on Monday).

World Wide Web Resources

The World Wide Web has become increasingly useful for research. Since the Web is a new medium, using it for scholarly work requires caution.

Try to identify stable, reputable sources. Search engines return too many hits more often than too few. This is mostly due to a lack of proper indexing on the Web, and inconsistency among search tools. An excellent site which recommends various search tools for different purposes is

Choose the Best Search Engine for Your Information Needs
http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html

"Why Can't I Find Anything I Want on the Internet?"
http://GeorgeSuttle.com/teaching/websearching/

Suggested Sites

Finally, the following Web sites may offer useful advice and guidance:

Guides to the "How" of Writing

Garbl's Grammar Guides Online
http://garbl.home.attbi.com/writing/grammar.htm

Claims to offer "everything you'll ever want to know about sentence structure and using the parts of speech correctly." This is one of a set of related, interlinked pages, all addressing topics of clear writing, punctuation, and communication in general.

Writing Handouts Listed by Topic
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/index2.html

The Online Writing Lab, or OWL, at Purdue University has dozens of handouts and guides available, both on matters of grammar, punctuation, and style, as well as on professional/business topics such as report writing, abtracting, resumes, cover letters, and so forth. A very useful resource.

Topical Guides

Clusty
http://clusty.com/

Clusty is a competitor of Google's; what sets it apart is its "clustering" of results, allowing you to see which results come from commercial sites, educational ones, and so forth. Not necessarily better than Google, but a different way of getting results.

Women's History
http://womenshistory.about.com/

A comprehensive guide to web sites dealing with all aspects of women's history

Women's History (International Institute of Social History)
http://www.iisg.nl/~womhist/

Another guide

Digital Collections of Primary Sources
http://www.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women/wh-digcoll.html

Good starting point from which to explore

American Women Through Time
http://www.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women/wh-timeline.html

A nice chronologically arranged set of approved sites and sources

Feminism and Women's Literature
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/women.html

A list of websites and online resources maintained by Jack Lynch at Rutgers University; part of a larger collection

Women's Studies & Feminist Theory
http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2711#id2828

Part of a much larger site called Voice of the Shuttle, this is an extensive list of sites, vetted by the editors, dealing with many aspects of women's history and feminism; many are related to women's literature

Women's Studies: Literature
http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/wstudies/literature.html

An extensive list compiled by Karla Tonella of the University of Iowa

Giving Credit Where Due

Whatever sources you use must be cited and attributed. Electronic and Internet sources are particularly troublesome because they can change and disappear. MLA style, developed by the Modern Language Association, is one format which has been adapted and modernized to include online sources:

MLA-Style Guides to Internet Citation

Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html

The Purdue Online Writing Center's guide to MLA format is highly recommended.

MLA-style Citations for ProQuest articles
http://library.spokanefalls.edu/proquestMLA.stm

Citing articles obtained though the ProQuest service requires a particularly long and detailed citation. This pages shows how to do it.

For authoritative information on MLA style, please consult MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th ed., available at 808.027 GIBALDI 2003. There is also a copy at the Reference Desk.