Guides: Women's &amp; Gender Studies: Research Databases

Getting Started

Women's & Gender Studies is Interdisciplinary -- think broadly and outside the box!

This research guide suggests many types of information sources, including reference books, scholarly journals and primary sources, with a focus on Women's & Gender topics. However, you may have to search databases specific to multiple disciplines to get a thorough sense of your topic.

Conducting research in Women's and Gender Studies requires assessing the reliability of the information found while considering it through the lens of Women's & Gender Studies. Some questions to keep in mind when evaluating research:

Who did the research?
Who is the audience for this research? What is the purpose of the article?
How inclusive or exclusive were the researcher(s)? How large (or small) was the participant group?
What evidence does the author provide? Was there bias in the analysis?
What was not considered -- what did they ignore or overlook?

Essential Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides full text coverage to peer-reviewed titles in the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education and more.
Gender Watch
Notable scholarly journals within the Gender Watch database include "Politics & Gender" and "Hypatia."
History of Feminism
Covers feminism from 1776 through 1928, with primary and secondary resources, including full books, selected chapters, journal articles, thematic essays, thematic subject introductions and a gallery of photographs and illustrations that can be used in teaching and study.
Taylor & Francis Gender Studies (Open Access)
Collection of Open Access Gender Studies E-Books, including gender development, environment and gender, women's suffrage, gender and the law, sexual & gender identity disorders, gender in culture and society, gender politics, and sport and gender.
Taylor & Francis Women's & Gender History (Open Access)
Open Access E-Books in the humanities, education, social and behavioral sciences, covering women's and gender history from the 12th century to today.
JSTOR
Notable scholarly journals within the JSTOR database include "Hypatia" and "Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society."
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Information on social issues including articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, interactive maps, videos, and streaming audio.
Exploring Race in Society
Provides background information on topics related to race, ethnicity, diversity and inclusiveness plus a collection of opinion essays offering solutions to issues related to race.
Project MUSE
Project Muse collection of open-access Women's & Gender Studies academic journals

Recommended Databases

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index This link opens in a new window
Covers journal articles, book reviews, and books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages.
America: History and Life
Access to scholarly journals, dissertations and book and media reviews about U.S. and Canadian history and culture. Coverage for some titles back to the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Biography in Context
Biographical information on more than 528,000 people throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.
Literature Resource Center
This Resource is all Full Text and has Biographies of Authors.
Cambridge Journals Online
Notable scholarly journals included in the Cambridge Journals Online database include "Politics & Gender" and "Hypatia."
Taylor & Francis Social Science & Humanities Library
Access to peer reviewed journals covering Behavioral Science; Education; Business, Management & Economics; Media, Cultural & Communication Studies; Politics, International Relations; Sociology; Sport, Leisure & Tourism.
PsycINFO
Use PsycINFO to find articles on how gender identity is formed or how expectations, attitudes and roles are formed between the sexes.
Communication & Mass Media Complete
Use Communication and Mass Media Complete to find articles on media representations or influences on gender as well as gender dynamics in interpersonal communication.