finding topics and sources
GSWS Writing Topics and Information Sources
Women of Color and Reproductive Rights
Example Source: “Beyond Pro-Choice versus Pro-Life: Women of Color and Reproductive Justice,” (new tab) by Andrea Smith
This article was found on JSTOR’s database, which can be found via the UVM Library website. It was found by searching a combination of key terms such as “women of color” “abortion” and “reproductive rights”. What makes this a good topic for something such as a research paper is that it is fairly specific, and lays the groundwork for discussing how women of color are most affected by the reproductive policing of women’s bodies. What makes this a good article is that it discusses one particular political aspect of this, abortion, and specifically in the context of women of color. This source can be deemed reliable, not only because it was found via a database UVM knows, trusts, and actively uses/promotes, but also because it was published by The Johns Hopkins University Press.
The Connection between Queer Identities and Poverty
Example Source: “The Queerly Disadvantaged and the Making of San Francisco’s War on Poverty, 1964-1967,” (new tab) by Martin Meeker
This article was found on JSTOR, a great database for humanities students. One can use keywords such as, “community organizing,” “gender,” “the war on poverty,” and “gay activists” to find this article and others like it. This article is useful because it is peer-reviewed, scholarly, and specific. This article could be used for a research paper about queer citizenship, how gay activists influenced debates on social welfare, or urban geography and poverty. Meeker, the author, deploys cultural, economic, and legal history as well as queer studies and geography to form his argument, making this a great interdisciplinary source.
The Role of Iranian Women in Government Post Iranian Revolution
Example Source: “Iranian Women from Private Sphere to Public Sphere, With Focus on Parliament,” (new tab) by Elaheh Koolaee
This article was found on the database Academic Search Premier – a branch of EBSCO Host. It was found by searching a combination of key terms such as “Iranian Women” “government” “activism” and “post revolution”. This would be a good topic for a research paper focusing on the role of women in government, or in general, in non-Western countries, especially as it hones in on a specific region, country, and culture. What makes this a good source is that it discusses the influence women have both directly and indirectly, rather than only discussing the concrete roles they hold, which can be rather limiting. This source can be deemed reliable, not only because it was found via a database UVM knows, trusts, and actively uses/promotes, but also because it was published in a fairly well known academic journal which focuses primarily on topics in Iran.
Systematic Racism: The Imprisonment of African American Women
Example Source: Inner Lives – Voices of African American Women in Prison (new tab) by Paula C Johnson.
This book was found using CatQuest – this is a database navigated via the UVM Library website, which allows one to search through the virtual entirety of UVM libraries. It was found by searching a combination of terms such as “African American Women” “imprisonment” and “racism”. This would be a good topic for a paper as it draws upon the intersectionalities of race, class, and gender, which is a hugely important topic in the realm of GSWS. What makes this a good source is that it can be used as a primary source, thanks to the interviews it possesses of current as well as former imprisoned African American women. This book can be deemed reliable because it was published by New York University Press, and the author is a well-known professor at Syracuse University College of Law, who has done much academic work and research in this field.
General Non-Scholarly Resources
These are all background resources that may be a good place to provide context for more academic articles, especially newer scholarly writings, as well as good places for queer specific news and issues. These may or may not be accepted as credible sources, depending on the professor and the type of paper you are writing. However, they make for interesting and informative reading.
- Everyday Feminism (new tab): A good resource for current articles on feminism and real-life feminist issues, away from the more academic scholarly sources.
- Autostraddle (new tab): Lesbian/queer culture website. More pop-culture based, but can be a good jumping off point for cultural critiques of modern lesbian society, and lesbian/queer female history. NOTE: this website is sometimes NSFW.
- Huffington Post Gay Voices (new tab): A good starting point for current news and opinions from/about the queer community.