Finding Books

Four College Library Catalog and UMass Library Catalog All the books and journals owned by the Five College libraries listed here. Formal SUBJECTs require exact words or phrases chosen by libraries to define your topic. For example, books that focus on the general subject of this course are listed as "women in politics - united states ", but books about individual women who are important in political life are listed under their individual names. Any person can be a subject. When formal subjects get confusing, try keywords. Then you can choose subject links for the books you find.
WorldCat Database that is like a combined catalog of many libraries in the United States and beyond. Amherst students who want books from beyond the 5 College area may order them through Interlibrary Loan .

Special Libraries for Women's History
Massachusetts is home to two of the best special collections of women's history in the United States: the Sophia Smith Collection at our neighbor Smith College and the Schlesinger Library at Harvard.

Women and Politics on the Web
Contemporary politics are particularly well representated on the Web. Some samples:
Center for American Women and Politics For women in current campaigns, background about women in U.S. politics, academic studies, etc.
Feminist Internet Gateway: Politics: Links to progressive websites about women and politics form the Feminist Majority Foundation

Finding Articles

America: History & Life: An online index to articles, book reviews, some essays in books, and more about all aspects of North American history.
Expanded Academic ASAP and Academic Search Premier: Databases with references to articles (mostly published since the 1980s) from a variety of journals.
LexisNexis Academic Universe A database of articles from a vast number of newspapers, some magazines, business and legal sources, etc. Always use "Guided Search" and be specific enough to find manageable number of articles. Nothing much before the mid-1980's.
Women's Studies: a Recommended Bibliography 3rd ed. (Ref HQ 1180 K75 2004): Arranged in topical chapters. Sometimes a guide to literature with suggestions from experts can give you a good start on a project.
The Women's Movement: Reference and Resources (Ref HQ 1236.5 U6 R93 1996) Recommendations with a definite feminist point of view.
Readers Guide Retrospective: Lists of articles from general magazines from 1890-1984. Remeber that periodical articles can be "primary" sources. This database might be good for finding immediate, unfiltered accounts of people, events, etc.
Journal Locator/Citation Linker, Do you already know what article you need? See if a journal is available at AC; connect to electronic copies or look in library catalog for print journals.

Finding Background Information

Oxford Companion to United States History and Dictionary of American History (Ref E 174 D52 2003) 10 vols: The first online for convenient, fast identifications; the second for much more detail and background about American history.
American National Biography A great source of biographies of important dead Americans. Essays by experts who recommend sources too.
Encyclopedia of American Social History (Ref HN 57 E58 1993) 3 vols: Good, in-depth surveys of major periods, issues, groups, etc. Recommended further reading at the end of each essay.
Routledge Historical Atlas of Women in America (Ref HQ 1410 P68 2000): An eclectic mix of numbers, graphs, and diagrams illustrating women's participation in many aspects of American life.
The Oxford Companion to the United States Government : Quick information on people, cases, organizations, etc.
Routledge Critical Dictionary of Feminism and Postfeminism (Ref HQ 1115 R68 2000): Never mind how you might feel about "postfeminism", this dictionary quickly identifies major plitical activists, theorists, issues, movements, etc. Handy for influential contemporary women.

Getting Help and Other Useful Tips

Ask for help! Reference and research advice from the experts. Or just Ask Us on email.

Map of Frost Library Find the book or print journal on the shelf
Hours of Frost Library
Borrowing Books from the AC Library
Five College Direct Borrowing Books from other local libraries

Do you want help citing books and other sources in your research paper? Use Citing References: MLA Style from the Library at University of Wisconsin - Whitewater; it tells you how to format references to all kinds of sources for courses in the humanities.