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CHS 395 — International LGBT Perspectives

ATTENTION: This research guide was last modified on March 03, 2011, before the January 2012 redesign of the library's home page. Information on how to access journal articles, databases, and other library resources may be inaccurate or outdated.

For up-to-date instructions on accessing materials, please visit our tutorial pages instead.

Research

Contact Information

Caroline Bordinaro
cbordinaro@csudh.edu
(310)-243-2084
LIB SOUTH 2037J

Navigation

Beginning Research

Glossary

Finding Books in the Library

Finding Magazine, Journal and Newspaper Articles

Search Tips

Quality Websites

Beginning Research
  • How to get started? Follow these steps:
      1. What information do you need to find? What's your research question? Write it out as a question.
      2. Take your research question and circle the "important words".
      3. Think of at least three synonyms for each important word. Why is this important?
      4. Use these words in various combinations to get a good result (between 15-40 results is optimal).
  • Who cares about the same information? (e.g.: researchers, practitioners, government, etc.)
      • What kind of information do they need?
      • Where would they get it? How would they share it? (journal articles, conference presentations, reports, etc.)
  • Types of information available
      • Books, journals, magazines, newspapers
      • Websites, newsletters, reports
      • Others?
      • Which is best: online, print, microfilm, phone text/image, DVD?
  • What resource are you currently using? Why is it important to know?
      • Is there a better tool for the job?
      • Are you using it in the most efficient/effective way?
  • Plagiarism: How to recognize it and avoid it!

If you can't find anything, don't freak out and go to Google! Ask a reference librarian for help


Glossary

DATABASE: An organized collection of information, especially electronic information.

ONLINE JOURNAL INDEX: A database that contains magazine, newspaper and journal articles e.g: Academic Search Premier

JOURNAL (also SCHOLARLY JOURNAL): Articles usually reviewed by experts in the field before publication; published for an academic or research audience; narrow focus; e.g.; American Journal of Psychology

MAGAZINE: Publication of general interest: popular interest and broad subjects (e.g: Psychology Today)

ABSTRACT: a brief summary of the main content of an article

FULL TEXT: the complete article. Click on the button to see if the Full Text is available.

CITATION: the essential information about a periodical article or book. May include article title, author, publication name, date, pages, volume/issue, publisher.


Finding Books in the Library

Go to TOROFIND: the CSUDH Library Catalog and search on the title, author, subject or keyword. Look not only for that specific call number, but also check out the books in that section. This is the best way to find older government documents and technical reports.

  • If you don't see the right item listed, or want more titles, try an on a few keywords (in separate boxes).
  • The item you want may not be a book. It may be some other kind of document, or it may be on microfilm.
  • If you don't find what you need, ask a reference librarian.

Finding Magazine, Journal and Newspaper Articles

Online indexes must be accessed through the CSUDH library homepage (library.csudh.edu). Select Journal Articles & Electronic Resources; You may either browse by subject area or go to your favorite resource using the Alphabetical List.

NOTE: These are subscription online journal indexes, selected and provided specifically for CSUDH students. To access from home, please see our How to Log in to the Databases from Off-Campus guide for instructions.

Recommended indexes:

  • SocINDEX*: offers coverage from all subdisciplines of sociology, including criminology, cultural sociology, demography, economic development, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, politics, social psychology, social structure, urban studies, welfare, and others.
  • Social Sciences Full Text*: indexes publications and peer-reviewed research.
  • PsycINFO: through EBSCOHost, indexes psychology journal articles, book chapters, books and dissertations from over 2000 publications. Scroll down list to find database name.
  • JSTOR: Peer reviewed journal articles on a wide range of social sciences topics.
  • Ethnic News Watch*: Published research on ethnic groups in the United States.
  • Gender Watch*: Scholarly research in the areas of women's studies, gender interaction, LGBT studies, the evolution of the women's movement and the changes in gender roles.
  • PsycEXTRA: "Gray" literature in psychology -- technical, annual and government reports, conference papers, newsletters, magazines, newspapers, consumer brochures and others. Excellent resource for supporting material. Scroll down list to find database name.
  • PAIS International: indexes journal articles and research in the areas of public affairs, public and social policies and international relations
  • Lexis Nexis: Indexes business, legal and news articles worldwide, including The Advocate.
  • CQ Researcher: complete reports on controversial health related topics and federal legislation

Recommended MULTI-SUBJECT/GENERAL INTEREST indexes:

  • Academic Search Premier*: Our most popular general index. Many full-text social work articles. Easy search and retrieval. Many older articles.
  • ProQuest Databases*: Excellent multi-subject index, with many full-text articles. Very easy to search.
  • WilsonWeb: OmniFile Full-Text Mega*: Another multi-subject index. Many articles in full-text.
  • E-Books from Gale, eBrary and others : Fully searchable textbooks and clinical references. Copy and paste text or print entire pages.

*To limit search to peer-reviewed journals only, look for check box next to Peer-Reviewed, Scholarly Journals, or Academic Journals on database search screen (may be in Advanced Search)

Not sure how to search? Use our How To Find Articles help page for assistance.


Search Tips

Search Tips:

  • Combining Keywords
    • AND: transgendered AND employment
    • OR: lgbt OR glbt
    • NOT: HIV NOT AIDS
  • Phrase searching"" ( "defense of marriage act")
  • Advanced Search: Use this frequently to determine your search options. This will save you TIME and FRUSTRATION!
  • Remember, the more words you use to search or the more limits you place on a search, the fewer results you will get. (How can you get more results?)
  • USE THE HELP SCREENS
  • Full Text: Click on the button to find the online version of an article
  • When printing or saving PDF format articles, always use the Print and Save functions embedded within the screen.
  • To limit search to peer-reviewed journals only, look for check box next to Peer-Reviewed, Scholarly Journals, or Academic Journals on database search screen (may be in Advanced Search)

Quality Websites

These are web sites and web indexes that have been reviewed by librarians. The sites have been checked for accuracy, timeliness, stability, and will generally conform to the standards of academic research. However, please be judicious in the use of websites in general, because anybody can put anything on the web.

International

United States Government

Other U.S.

California

Scholarly Web Indexes and Site Evaluation

  • Infomine (infomine.ucr.edu): A project from the Univeristy of California and other universities, it is a searchable index of websites specifically appropriate for university research. Click on SocSci & Humanities to search their specialized index.
  • Librarian's Index to the Internet (www.lii.org): Index of websites reviewed by librarians, geared toward the general public. Choose a topic from the index or use Advanced Search to search for keywords.
  • Evaluating Information on the Web: This is a very good checklist from the Pasadena City College Library for judging the quality of not only information on the Internet, but any information you may want to use for an assignment.