Gender and Science -- Information Strategy/Sources

Information Strategy -- a basic guide for tracking down relevant, high-quality information needed for papers, lab reports, discussions, and other purposes

1. Define ... a topic by gathering background/overview information; help formulate your question

Sources:

AccessScience (the online version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology and Yearbooks, current science news from Science News magazine, biographies of scientists, and more)

Encyclopedia Britannica Online

Additional relevant encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other publications that may provide this type of information and are available locally can be located by searching the Library Catalog.

2. Identify ... specific and more in-depth sources of information about the defined topic--to answer your question

Databases:

Mainly popular-press magazine and newspaper articles:

LexisNexis (useful for coverage of newspapers and some popular magazines 1980's-present; use the Guided News Search)

For materials published prior to the beginning of the above database, try --

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (in paper; covers 1890-present)

Focusing on women and gender issues:

Contemporary Women's Issues (CWI) (covers both popular and scholarly articles; has an international perspective)

GenderWatch

Studies on Women & Gender Abstracts Online (indexes mainly scholarly articles and books)

For materials published prior to the beginning of the above databases, try --

Periodicals Index Online (covers journal articles from the social sciences and humanities back to the 1600's; does not index articles more recent than 1995)

Mainly scholarly journal articles, books, etc.:

Academic Search Premier

America: History and Life (covering the history of North America)

Historical Abstracts (covering the history of the rest of the world outside North America)

PubMed/MEDLINE (can be used to find publications related to the history of medicine)

PubMed (NLM interface; description)

MEDLINE (FirstSearch interface; description)

Sociological Abstracts (in-depth coverage of Sociology and related disciplines)

PsycINFO (a good supplement to Sociological Abstracts; in-depth coverage of Psychology and related disciplines)

For materials published prior to the beginning of the above databases, try --

Periodicals Index Online (covers journal articles from the social sciences and humanities back to the 1600's; does not index articles more recent than 1995)

Grinnell College Libraries Catalog (for other than articles)

WorldCat (search for relevant books and other non-article items that may not be held locally; describes materials cataloged by 20,000+ libraries worldwide)

Reference Sources:

Sources of Statistics

3. Locate ... the publications identified above at Grinnell or elsewhere--get your information

Grinnell College Libraries Catalog

Search for Full Text (journal, magazine, and newspaper articles; Article Linker)

Interlibrary Loan

Other Library Catalogs:

Iowa State University Library Catalog

University of Iowa Libraries Catalog

4. Evaluate ... the validity, objectivity, and usefulness of the information