Subject Guides: Women's Studies: Contemporary Sources

Books

Books can be a great place to start your reading around a topic.

Relevant books are located in many locations in the library, including the Social Sciences (D) section on the first floor of the JB Morrell Library. Many books will also be available online as e-books. Look for the links in YorSearch, under the View It section of each book.

Shelf location	Subject
A	Philosophy
A 28.4	Philosophy - Women
B	Psychology
B 3.722	Female Sexuality
C	Religion
D	Social Sciences
D 1.4339+	Women's history
DA	Social Policy
M	Literature
Q	History

eBook collections

Cambridge Companions Online: Philosophy, Religion and Culture This link opens in a new window
Specially-commissioned collections of essays addressing topics and figures ranging from Plato through Kant to Habermas, and philosophical movements such as the Scottish Enlightenment and German Idealism.

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SAGE Research Methods Online This link opens in a new window
Please note that you will find content that you are not entitled to access.
A substantial collection of ebooks, journal articles, reference materials, cases, videos and tools for exploring all aspects of the research process from identifying and understanding particular research methods to designing research projects, conducting research and writing up findings.

Included are SAGE's "Little Green Books" (the Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series) and "Little Blue Books" (the Qualitative Research Methods series).

Please note that you will also find content that you are not entitled to access.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Search for books and journals on YorSearch

Journals & databases

All journal titles are listed on YorSearch, and can be found by searching the journal title.

If you don't have a specific title in mind, you can browse journals in your subject area on Browzine. Journals are organised by field of research, such as:

Browse all Social Science

Browse all Ethnic, Race and Gender Studies

Sociology

Women's Studies

News sources

BFI Filmography This link opens in a new window
The BFI Filmography includes detailed information about UK feature films released in cinemas from 1911 until the present day. The data can be used to investigate the history, production and context of film in the UK.

The Filmography is a dynamic resource and the underlying data is constantly being reviewed and updated.

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Box of Broadcasts (BoB) This link opens in a new window
You will need to register for an account the first time that you access Box of Broadcasts.

Please note that you may only access and use Box of Broadcasts in the United Kingdom..
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is an on demand TV and radio service for education. Users can record programmes from over 65 free-to-air channels and access an extensive archive of programmes already available. Users can also create clips from programmes and compile playlists.

Please note that you may only access and use BoB in the United Kingdom.

For help with this resource, take a look at the BoB FAQs.

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British Cartoon Archive This link opens in a new window
Digitised images from the the national collection of British social and political cartoons housed at the University of Kent. This includes the entire Carl Giles Archive of 15,000 cartoon images and 5,000 pages of related paperwork.
BUND: British Universities Newsreel Database This link opens in a new window
160,000 digitised records of British cinema newsreels, 80,000 digitised production documents, online texts, a Who's Who of British Newsreels and much more, dating back to 1910.

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Commercial Radio Archive This link opens in a new window
To access recordings enter "University of York" and select it from the list then log in with your York IT Services username and password.
Gives access to archives of Independent Local Radio from 1973 to 1996 including the: Independent Local Radio Programme Sharing Database; London Broadcasting Company/Independent Radio News Archive; Independent Local Radio Central Southern Archive.

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Guardian, 1821-2003 and Observer, 1791-2003 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The Guardian from 2004 onward is also available via YorSearch.
The Observer from 2004 onward is also available via YorSearch.
A full text archive of page and article facsimile images of the Guardian (1821 - 2003) and the Observer (1791 - 2003).

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Nexis This link opens in a new window
Personalisation is available via the link above.

Alternative link without personalisation if you have problems with the link above (please clear the cookies and cache in your browser): Nexis.
Nexis is a major source of global news and business information. It provides full-text access to over 34,000 publications, with more than 12,000 news sources including UK daily and regional newspapers, current affairs magazines, and professional journals. Updated daily; back issues archive varies by title.

Nexis also includes 80 sources of company information, plus thousands of biographies of government officials, politicians, celebrities, investors and business contacts.

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Screen Online This link opens in a new window
Screen Online is no longer being updated and film clips may not be available, for access to film clips see the free collections available via BFI Player.
Screen Online is a website covering the history of British film and television and Britain's social history as revealed by film and television. The site contains video clips from the collections of the British Film Institute National Film and Television Archive, stills, posters and press books and several hours of recorded interviews with film and television personalities.
Times 1985 - present (Nexis) This link opens in a new window
Also includes access to The Times website (thetimes.co.uk) from 2011.
Gives access to the full-text of The Times from 1 July 1985 and The Times website (thetimes.co.uk) from 23 December 2010.

For The Times 1785 - 2019 see the entry: Times Digital Archive, 1785 - 2019

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Vogue Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution colour page images. Every page, advertisement, cover and fold-out has been included, with indexing enabling images to be searched for by garment type, designer and brand name.

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Women's Magazine Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Women's Magazine Archive gives access to three collections of full text backfiles from leading women’s interest consumer magazines from the US, UK and Canada. Titles are scanned from cover to cover in high-resolution colour ensuring that the original print artefacts are faithfully reproduced and that valuable non-article items, such as advertisements, are included. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century through to 2005.

The following magazines are included in the archive:

Collection 1 - Better Homes & Gardens (US); Chatelaine (Canada); Good Housekeeping (US); Ladies’ Home Journal (US); Parents (US); Redbook (US).

Collection 2 - Cosmopolitan (US); Essence (US); Seventeen (US); Town and Country (US); Woman’s Day (US); Women’s International Network News (US).

Collection 3 - Company (UK); Cosmopolitan (UK); Good Housekeeping (UK); Prima (UK); She (UK).

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Databases

To start a more detailed search for articles and other research evidence, you'll need to use online databases. These are collections of resources that allow you to search for articles from hundreds of different journals at the same time.

Key databases

LGBT Magazine Archive (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
The University has access to Collection 1 .
This archive documents more than six decades (1954 - 2015) of the history and culture of the LGBT community through the full text of the most influential and longest-running serial publications covering LGBT interests. Titles available include: The Advocate, Gay Times, The Pink Paper, Transgender Tapestry, and Man and Society.

Due to the rarity of some of the original print volumes, there are small gaps (issues or pages) in the runs of some publications.

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Men's Bibliography This link opens in a new window
A bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender, and sexualities listing nearly 22,400 books and articles in over thirty major subject areas.

Cross disciplinary databases

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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ASSIA (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
ASSIA (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts) indexes around 650 English language social science journals. Subject coverage includes social services, health, employment, ethnic studies, education, criminology, and related areas.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Business Source Premier (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
The full text of articles from almost 8,200 journals, including more than 1,100 peer-reviewed business publications. This includes the Harvard Business Review back to the first issue in 1922, and most other journals included back to 1965. The database also includes other sources of full text information such as country economic reports from the EIU, and detailed company profiles for the world's 10,000 largest companies. Additional full text, non-journal content includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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eHRAF World Cultures This link opens in a new window
eHRAF World Cultures contains ethnographic collections covering all aspects of cultural and social life from historical to contemporary time periods. The contents are organized by regions, subregions, and cultures and cover over 300 cultures. The material is indexed at the paragraph level by Human Relations Area Files anthropologists using unique subject identifier codes from the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM).

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PsycINFO (Ovid) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
PsycINFO is the American Psychological Association's bibliographic database. PsycINFO contains citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, and technical reports, as well as citations to dissertations, all in the field of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines. Journal coverage includes international material selected from more than 1,900 periodicals written in over 35 languages. Current chapter and book coverage includes worldwide English-language material published from 1987-present. Over 80,000 references are added annually through weekly updates.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.
Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary index to the journal literature of the social sciences. It fully indexes more than 1,725 journals across 50 social sciences disciplines, and it indexes individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals. Abstracts are provided for approximately 60% of the articles included. In addition, links to cited references and times cited make it possible to extend searches.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science provides access to the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Social and Economic Resources

Annual Register: A Record of World Events (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A year-by-year record of British and world events, published annually since 1758.

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AnthroSource [accessible until 31st December 2024] This link opens in a new window
AnthroSource is a fully integrated information resource. Its powerful search engine makes precision research quick and easy.

AnthroSource is more than a content collection. It is an evolving, interactive repository of research and communications tools designed to bring the most credible and relevant of anthropological scholarship together in one place and to support a strong community of scholars, teachers, and students in the field.

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CIA World Factbook
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Compiled by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, a free source of summary social and economic data for all countries, updated annually. Provides a global ranking for each variable.
data.gov.uk
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Designed for the general public, "to help people understand how government works and how policies are made". All publicly-released UK government data in one searchable website.
Eurostat
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The European Commission's official portal to publicly-available social and economic data about EU member states. English, French or German-language interface available.

Fürer-Haimendorf Collection This link opens in a new window
A collection of 20,000 images, films and written material from the 1930s to the 1980s produced by Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, professor of anthropology at SOAS, showing rituals, festivals, everyday life, textiles and jewellery, shaman-led rituals and acrobatics of tribes in the Himalayas and South Asia.
Gender Equality Data and Statistics This link opens in a new window
GenderStats is an electronic database of gender statistics and indicators. It offers statistical and other data in modules on several subjects. It is updated continuously and coverage includes themes that range from health and education to political participation and poverty.
Global Library of Women's Medicine This link opens in a new window
An online database of clinical information covering the whole field of women's medicine. It consists of over 400 chapters, supported by over 40,000 references, which will be kept permanently up-to-date. The chapters have been written by more than 650 specialists and will reflect some of the very best worldwide opinion.
Google Dataset Search This link opens in a new window
Google Dataset Search enables the discovery of datasets stored across thousands of repositories on the Web. The search locates files and datasets on the basis of how their owners have classified them as it does not read the content of the files or datasets themselves.

You can also use Google Public Data Explorer to explore and communicate large, public-interest datasets via charts and maps.

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ILOSTAT (International Labour Organization) This link opens in a new window
Labour market statistics for over 100 indicators and 230 countries, areas and territories, dating back to 1952 in some cases. Updated annually. Customised data tables can be created online and downloaded in .csv format.
International Historical Statistics, 1750-2010 This link opens in a new window
Includes 260 years of statistical data covering a wide range of key economic and social indicators. Data is available on the Americas and Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Data tables can be downloaded as PDFs and/or Excel files.

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Mintel Academic This link opens in a new window
Subscription provided by Economics and Management. Please contact econ-it@york.ac.uk with any questions or problems with access. The Library does not provide support for this database.
Mintel gives access to up-to-date consumer and market intelligence, market research reports and data covering a range of industries and products. The University subscribes to reports in the following areas:

Beauty and Personal Care - UK
Food - UK
Retail: Clothing and Footwear - UK

Report sections can be printed or downloaded, but please note it is not possible to print or download entire reports.
National Statistics (Office for National Statistics) This link opens in a new window
The website of the UK Office for National Statistics. Site includes full texts of the latest press releases (plus a searchable archive); and a substantial collection of free-to-access online statistical publications, such as "The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", "Social Trends", "United Kingdom Economic Accounts", and others (usually most recent edition only). Also Census 2001, and the newly developed Neighbourhood Statistics service, providing access to "a vast range of social and economic aggregate data on a consistent small-area geography" (searchable by postcode).

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OECD Data This link opens in a new window
A collection of statistical databases from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Coverage includes national accounts, economic indicators, financial affairs, social expenditure, and further series relating to industry, agriculture, energy, employment, health, migration, development and aid, for all 30 OECD member countries and other major economies.

Each data series has a searchable abstract indicating origin, start date, periodicity, content etc. Data tables can be constructed according to your own specifications for viewing online, then exported into a spreadsheet package for further processing.

For information about OECD Health Statistics, please see the separate entry.
OHE Health Statistics and Data Analyses This link opens in a new window
Register at the website for a username and password.
Aims to be a leading source of statistics about health and health care in the UK (including international comparisons). Includes sections on population, mortality and morbidity, health care expenditure, hospital services, and family health services.

Updated annually. Freely available online.
Population Reference Bureau - Population and Health Data This link opens in a new window
This database contains data on 136 population, health, and environment variables for more than 220 countries, 28 world regions and sub-regions, and the world as a whole. (Not all countries have data on all variables).
UK Data Service This link opens in a new window
To access data you will need to create a personal account.
Consolidates and integrates four services established and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC): the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS), the Secure Data Service, the Survey Question Bank and elements of the ESRC Census Programme.

The UK Data Service provides a unified point of access to more than 6,000 collections of high quality social and economic data, including UK Census data, government-funded surveys, longitudinal studies, international macrodata, qualitative data and business microdata.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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UNdata This link opens in a new window
UNdata is maintained by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). It provides a single point of access to a number of leading United Nations statistical databases offering a great starting point for tracing all forms of statistics and statistical indicators. It is replacing the United Nations Common Database.

Sources of data include WHO health data, refugee data from UNHCR, UNESCO data, and World Telecommunications Union statistics among many others. Topics covered encompass the full range of United Nations statistics from population trends, health, international trade and commodity data, human development, demographic and population trends.

Other key features of the site include useful country profiles and glossaries of key terms.
UNECE Family and Fertility Surveys This link opens in a new window
The Family and Fertility Surveys are part of the UNECE Population programme. The FFS have been conducted in the 1990s in selected Member States of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and were co-ordinated by the Population Activities Unit (PAU). The FFS project has been largely financed by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

FFS microdata can be obtained by submitting research proposals to UNECE PAU although country-level tabular data and documents (available in english and original language of publication) can be obtained from the Population Data Online link. Also included are links to UNECE resources on Ageing, Generations and Gender in addition to related publications.

Tables and documents are available in EXCEL and Adobe PDF.

World Bank Data
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The Data Catalog is a listing of freely available World Bank datasets, including databases, pre-formatted tables, reports and other resources.

Websites

Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology This link opens in a new window
The online version of the 11 volume print edition available in the University Library. It gives access to over 1800 specially commissioned entries written and edited by an international team of scholars and teachers.

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Bloomsbury World Englishes Online Encyclopaedia This link opens in a new window
Volumes 1-3 of this series, which presents a comprehensive, detailed survey of English as it is spoken all over the world and includes maps, facts and detailed descriptions for each region.

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Dictionary of Irish Biography This link opens in a new window
Over 11,000 signed biographical articles outline the careers at home and overseas of prominent men and women born in Ireland, north and south, and the noteworthy Irish careers of those born outside Ireland. Articles describe and assess the careers of subjects in all fields of endeavour, including politics, law, religion, literature, journalism, architecture, painting, music, the stage, science, medicine, engineering, entertainment and sport.

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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window
An illustrated collection of 50,000 specially written biographies of the men and women who shaped all aspects of Britain's past, from the fourth century BC to the year 2000.

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SAGE Research Methods Online This link opens in a new window
Please note that you will find content that you are not entitled to access.
A substantial collection of ebooks, journal articles, reference materials, cases, videos and tools for exploring all aspects of the research process from identifying and understanding particular research methods to designing research projects, conducting research and writing up findings.

Included are SAGE's "Little Green Books" (the Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series) and "Little Blue Books" (the Qualitative Research Methods series).

Please note that you will also find content that you are not entitled to access.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

Accessibility information

Citation searching (also known as cited reference searching) can be used if you have already identified a relevant book or journal article on the subject you are researching. Starting from the book or journal article you have identified, citation searching takes you forward in time by identifying more recent articles that cite that book or article. Citation searching usually works best if your known reference is of high quality, is authored by leaders in the field, and is limited to the subject you are researching.

Citation searching is available on a number of databases:

Business Source Premier (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
The full text of articles from almost 8,200 journals, including more than 1,100 peer-reviewed business publications. This includes the Harvard Business Review back to the first issue in 1922, and most other journals included back to 1965. The database also includes other sources of full text information such as country economic reports from the EIU, and detailed company profiles for the world's 10,000 largest companies. Additional full text, non-journal content includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

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Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
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A free search portal powered by Google, which can be used as a database to search for academic-type material such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports.

For help with this resource, take a look at Searching for information: Google Scholar.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Science Direct This link opens in a new window
The world's largest full-text scientific database of journals in the life, physical, medical, technical and social sciences.

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Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Web of Science provides access to the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index.

For help with this resource, take a look at our Quick Guide.

For help using this resource for bibliometrics see Bibliometrics: a practical guide.

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Audiovisual collections
Rare Books Collection
Theses and Dissertations
York Digital Library (YODL)
York Digital Library (YODL) provides access to over 69,000 resources, which include images, archive material and rare books. Some of the material is public, some of the collections can be accessed by members of the University only and some collections are restricted to students taking certain courses. Remember to login so that you can see the full range of resources available to you.

Women's Studies

Contemporary Sources

Finding Contemporary Sources

Books

Books

eBook collections

Journals & databases

Journals

News sources

News Sources

Databases

Databases

Key databases

Cross disciplinary databases

Social and Economic Resources

Social and Economic Resources

Websites