The Trexler Library: Muhlenberg College

Gender, Politics & Policy

Need help with your research? Contact:

Jen Jarson
Social Sciences Reference Librarian
phone: x3552
email: jarson [at] muhlenberg [dot] edu
IM: jjarson1 (for AIM, Yahoo, add @hotmail.com for MSN)

Need help after hours?
IM the Library at TalkToTrexler (for Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo, add @hotmail.com for MSN)
Online Sunday-Thursday 2pm-10pm.
See Ask a Librarian for more information.

Finding Background Information

SELECTED REFERENCE SOURCES

The following is only a small selection of available reference materials. Search the library catalog for more reference sources, browse the reference collection on level A of the library, or ask for help.

The American Woman
Location: 305.40973 A512wo-woman

Book of the States
Location: 353.9 B724

Credo Reference
Credo Reference is a collection of hundreds of reference works, including general and subject specific dictionaries, encyclopedias, guides, companions and more--all online, all searchable from one search box. Location: Online or search the library catalog by title or access via the Online Reference Shelf

Notable titles in Credo Reference specific to gender, politics, and policy:

Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender
Online Location: Online or search the library catalog by title
Print Location: 305.403 E56o v.1-2

Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers
Online Location: Online or search the library catalog by title
Print Location: 303.48403 R221e v.1-2

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide
Location: 305.4203 G816e v.1-6

Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest
Location: 348.026 M385L

Men and Masculinities: A Social, Cultural, and Historical Encyclopedia
Location: 305.3103 K49m v.1-2

Sexuality and the Law: An Encyclopedia of Major Legal Cases
Location: 346.730313 L581s

West's Encyclopedia of American Law (2nd ed.)
Online Location: Online or search the library catalog by title
Print Location: 349.7303 W538e v.1-12

SELECTED WEBSITES

Center for American Women and Politics (Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/

Center for Women in Government & Civil Society (University at Albany, SUNY)
http://www.albany.edu/womeningov/

Women and Politics Research Section (American Political Science Association)
http://www.apsanet.org/~wpol/index.htm

Women in Politics (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance)
http://www.idea.int/gender/

NEWS SOURCES

LexisNexis Academic
Full text of thousands of newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, business publications, legal materials, and more.
GETTING THERE: Library Homepage -- Databases A to Z (in the Quick Links box)

Finding Secondary Sources: Books

TREXLER LIBRARY

Search the Trexler Library Catalog to find out what books, government publications, journals, videos, etc. the library owns.

GETTING THERE: Use the shortcut search box on the Library Homepage or Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in the Quick Links box) -- Trexler Library Catalog

OTHER LIBRARIES

To find books held by other libraries, search WorldCat, a database of over 60 million library records from around the country and world. Use the ILL button to request a book from another library. (ILL can take 10-14 days.)

GETTING THERE: Library Homepage -- Library Catalogs (in Quick Links box) -- Other Library Catalogs -- WorldCat

Finding Secondary Sources: Journal Articles

SEARCHING FOR ARTICLES

See a list of all article databases via the Library Homepage -- Databases A-Z (in the Quick Links box).

Use UlrichsWeb Periodicals Directory (linked from the Library Homepage -- Online Reference Shelf (in the Quick Links box)) to find out information about individual journals, including whether or not they are peer-reviewed.

Subject-Specific Databases: Political Science & International Relations

PAIS
Citations from 1972 to the present from scholarly journals, gray literature, government publications, and more from 120 countries on political, economic, social and public policy issues.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Indexes international serials literature in political science and complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy.

Check the Subject Guides (linked from the Library Homepage in the Research box) for other recommended databases for this and other subject areas.

Interdisciplinary Databases

Academic Search Premier
Full text access to scholarly and non-scholarly publications in a wide variety of disciplines and subject areas.

ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts
Indexes journals in sociology, psychology, political science, health, social work, education, and more.

JSTOR
Full text of scholarly journals from most academic disciplines. Coverage is from the inception of the journal through three to five years ago.

OmniFile
A database with some full text articles covering various academic subjects including general sciences, humanities, social sciences, and business.

Sage Journals Online
Full-text access to over 500 journals published by Sage, providing wide coverage of scholarly publications in all disciplines, but particularly the social sciences.

GETTING THE ARTICLES

When searching for articles in library databases, you may find the full-text of an article linked in the database.

If not, you need to search the Trexler Library Catalog to see if we own the journal in which the article is published.
- Most databases have a Get It! link embedded. Click the link to check our holdings.
- Otherwise, search the catalog by journal title or by ISSN . Verify that we have online, print, or microform access to the year/volume you need.
If we do not own the journal you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan.
- Some databases have a Request on Interlibrary Loan link embedded. Click the link to fill out the form. Click Submit.
- Otherwise, use the Interlibrary Loan Journal Article Request Form (Library Homepage -- Interlibrary Loan (in the Quick Links box) -- Articles request form). Fill out the form with as much information as possible. Ask for help, if you have questions.

Finding Primary Sources: Government Documents

U.S. Government

Trexler Library Catalog
http://muhlenberg.edu/library/
Muhlenberg College receives about 30% of all materials published by the U.S. Federal Government. These items cover a wide range of subject areas--from legal materials and the records of Congress to health and education information and in-depth research conducted by the Smithsonian. All of the government documents that we receive have records in the Trexler Library Catalog.

United States Government Documents on Women, 1800-1990: A Comprehensive Bibliography
Location: 016.3054 H917u v.1-2

LexisNexis Academic
GETTING THERE : Library homepage -- Databases A to Z (in the Quick Links box) -- LexisNexis Academic
Full text of thousands of newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, business publications, legal materials, and more.
NOTE: Use the US Legal section on the left sidebar.

ProQuest Congressional
GETTING THERE: Library homepage -- Databases A to Z (in the Quick Links box) -- ProQuest Congressional
Information on the U.S. legislature, including full text of bills from 1989 on, public laws from 1988 on, committee reports from 1990 on, House and Senate documents from 1995 on, Congressional Record from 1985 on, Federal Register from 1980 on, and more government information. (Previously known as LexisNexis Congressional.)

U.S. Code (Cornell)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/
Easy access to the U.S. Code, the federal law of the United States. Provided by the Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School.

Other Nations

Governments on the World Wide Web
http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/

Legal Information Institute, Law by Source: Global (Cornell University)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/world/
The LII collection of world legal materials gathers, country by country, continent by continent, the Internet-accessible sources of the constitutions, statutes, judicial opinions, and related legal material from around the globe (excluding the U.S. material held in the LII's other collections). It also holds resources and document collections of International Law.

WashLaw Web: Foreign and International Law (Washburn University School of Law Library)
http://www.washlaw.edu/forint/index.html
This site provides a tremendous number of links as well as access to foreign and international legal resources and research tools. It's especially strong on finding legal materials from specific countries (i.e. Nigerian law).

World Legal Information Institute
http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/215.html
Organized by country and then by subject.

Finding Primary Sources: News

See a list of all article databases via the Library Homepage -- Databases A-Z (in the Quick Links box).

For news from the late 1980s / early 1990s to the present...

Academic Search Premier
Full text access to scholarly and non-scholarly publications in a wide variety of disciplines and subject areas.

LexisNexis Academic
Full text of thousands of newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, business publications, legal materials, and more.

OmniFile
A database with some full text articles covering various academic subjects including general sciences, humanities, social sciences, and business.

For news pre late 1980s / early 1990s...

Readers' Guide Retrospective
Provides indexing of general-interest periodicals published in the United States for the period 1890-1982.

Finding Primary Sources: Statistical Information

The following is only a small selection of available data sources. Ask for help if you need assistance in locating sources.

Women's Changing Roles (2002)
Location: 305.420973 A393w

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
http://www.bls.gov/

Fedstats: The Gateway to Statistics from Over 100 U.S. Federal Agencies
http://www.fedstats.gov/

Historical Statistics of the United States (online)
Location: Online or search the library catalog by title

ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research)
Location: Online or search the library catalog by title

International Statistical Agencies (U.S. Census Bureau)
http://www.census.gov/aboutus/stat_int.html

LexisNexis Statistical Insight
Location: Online or available via Trexler Library homepage -- Online Reference Shelf (in the Quick Links box).
Statistical information produced by U.S. federal agencies, states, and intergovernmental organizations.

OFFSTATS: Official Statistics on the Web (University of Auckland)
http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/stats/offstats/

Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 1886- .
Online Location: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Print Location: Trexler Library Government Documents C 3.134:886- (Level A)

US Census
http://www.census.gov/

American Factfinder
http://factfinder.census.gov/

Census Bureau, Women in the United States
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/women.html

United Nations
http://un.org/

UN Data
http://data.un.org/

Writing an Annotated Bibliography

For help writing your annotated bibliography, consult the following resources:

Annotated Bibliographies (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/annotated_bibliographies.html

Writing Annotated Bibliographies (Trexler Library, Muhlenberg College)
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/annotated.html

Citing Your Sources

For help using Chicago Style, consult the following resources:

The Chicago manual of style, 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Location: Trexler Library Reference Desk Reserve 808.027 C632m (at Reference Desk)

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Location: Trexler Library Reference Desk Reserve 808 T929m 1996 (at Reference Desk)

Trexler Library handout on using Chicago Style
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/reshelp/chicago_example.pdf
This and other style guide handouts available from the library website. Library Homepage -- Citation Guides (in the Research box).

Writer's Handbook (Writing Center, University of Wisconsin--Madison)
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocChicago.html