1. WOMEN IN THE ECONOMY:
LIBRARY RESOURCES
Jennifer Thiessen, Liaison Librarian for
Women’s and Gender Studies

2. Our agenda
• Finding journal articles
• Choosing a database/tool
• Search tips
• Evaluating
• Primary vs. secondary
sources
• Popular vs. academic
• Other tools
• Writing/citing
• Questions? Help?
Jobs for Girls and Women by Vintaga Posters

3. Getting started
• Find a research topic (Need help? Look at course
readings, browse an encyclopedia, see what’s in the
news)
• Find keywords in your topic
• What are the effects of childbearing on labor supply?
• Generate search terms
• Look for subject headings/descriptors, use synonyms, read
abstracts, use your own knowledge of the topic, etc.
• Choose database/s
• Search
• Evaluate

4. Why use databases?

5. Getting to the databases
Library website >
Databases >
Women’s Studies

6. Limit to peer-review…

7. Or not.

8. Look for subject headings to focus your search

9. More Search Tips
• Use quotation marks for phrases
• “unpaid work”; “educational leadership”
• Use * to search for alternate endings
• Canad* = Canada, Canadian, etc.; work* = work, works, working, etc.
• Use synonyms
• work, labor, labour, job, employment, etc.
• childbearing, pregnancy, fertility, etc.
• Too many results?
• Use limits (peer-reviewed, date, language, etc.)
• Add additional keywords; get more specific
• Too few results?
• Remove one or more keywords
• Go broader (e.g. search Canada instead of Ontario)

10. Other tools
• Primary sources
• First-hand accounts
Sarah Cowper's Diary, Volume 1, 1700-1702, Defining Gender, 1450-1910

11. Other tools…
• Primary sources
• Data
• Statistics
• http://researchguides.library.brocku.ca/data

12. • Use from the Library website
• Why use Google Scholar?
o Another “database”
o Find works that cite a particular
article/book
o Watch: Get Better Results with
Google Scholar

13. CRAAP
Test
http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf
• For evaluating
books, journals,
websites, etc.
(i.e. Can I use this in
my paper/assignment?)

14. Writing and Citing
• Many databases offer citation tools

15. More citation help:
• APA Style Quick Guide
(Dalhousie University)
• APA Style Guide
(Purdue Online Writing Lab)
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association
Catalogue record for print copy in our library.

16. Need help?
http://bit.ly/womenintheeconomy

17. For more help…
•See the Library Help pages
•Contact the Library Help Desk
•905-688-5550 x. 3233 or use email form
•Contact your liaison librarian:
•Jennifer Thiessen (phone, chat, email)