Yale University Library Research Guides: WGSS 205: Bodies and Pleasures, Sex and Genders: Home

Main search portals

Yale Library Catalog (Orbis)
Searches the books, e-books, journals, government documents, and other physical and digital items owned by the library. Individual journal articles are not retrieved by the search. Can be used to find both primary and secondary sources.
Library catalog via Quicksearch (Books+)
A combined search of the library's books, journal articles, databases, and more. Searches Orbis as well as the Law Library catalog, Morris. Consider this a Google-like search of a vast amount of resources, but keep in mind some library materials are not indexed by the search. The search refinements and availability of multiple search fields are key to limiting the usually large number of results and finding the most relevant sources.
Primary Sources at Yale
Primary sources provide firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic or question under investigation. Take some time to explore the Primary Sources at Yale website to learn more about the original sources that are available for research and scholarship at Yale.
Archives at Yale
The search portal for finding archival materials at Yale. Look for the Scope & Contents notes, inventories, and PDF Finding Aids to assess the relevance of materials to your research project.
Borrow Direct
Borrow Direct can be used to find and borrow books from partner libraries when our copy is checked out or we do not own the item.

Related guides

LGBTQI Research Guide

Reference sources

Background or "reference" sources are a great place to start your research. Reference works include bibliographies, scholarly encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other sources that provide overviews of topics and suggestions for further reading.

Oxford Bibliographies
An extensive collection of annotated bibliographies. Examples of potentially helpful articles:

"Embodiment" by Anna Harris (Anthropology module)

"Intersectionalities" by Judith A. Howard (Sociology module)

"Non-normative Sexuality Studies" by Ahonaa Roy (Sociology module)

"LGBT Social Movements" by Amy L. Stone and Sarah Davis (Sociology module)

"Transgender Media Studies" by matthew heinz (Communication module)

Cambridge Companions

These are edited books with multiple authors and offer useful introductions to topics, themes, and artists. For instance, in The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction, several authors discuss the work of Samuel R. Delany.

Oxford Handbooks Online
Chapters in the Oxford Handbooks usually provide helpful overviews of topics, reviews of the scholarly literature, and suggestions for further reading. Examples of potentially useful volumes include the The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory and The Oxford Handbook of American Women's and Gender History.

Wiley Online Library
This resource includes scholarly journal articles and monographs as well as reference works. Often a single chapter or two within a reference work can provide a helpful starting point for research. For instance, in the Companion to Women's and Gender Studies, chapters such as "Masculinities Studies" by Melanie Lee and "Trans Studies" by Cristina Khan and Kolbe Franklin provide overviews of the scholarship in the field, followed by long lists of references.

Subject databases

The following databases will be helpful for finding citations to, and often the full-text of, scholarly journal articles. They will also include citations to magazines, newspapers, and books. Please note: The full text of articles will not always be available in these databases. If you see the "Yale Links" icon instead of a PDF, click on it to discover whether we have access to the article:

Academic Search Premier
A multidisciplinary database with PDF backfiles of articles to 1975 or earlier.
Gender Watch
Full-text database of publications that focus on gender and society. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, and NGO, government and special reports. Coverage is from 1970 to the present.
Legal Source
Searchable database which provides access to information on the discipline of law and various legal topics, including international coverage, and access to scholarly articles, symposia, jurisdictional surveys, court decisions, legislation, books, book reviews, periodicals, and more.
LGBTQ+ Source
Full-text coverage of key journal literature in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies. Offers a variety of scholarly and popular magazines and also includes citations to books and book chapters.

And, don’t forget, Orbis, Books+ and Articles+ are all useful tools for finding sources too.

Library contacts

James Kessenides, Librarian for African American Studies and History

Jana Krentz, Librarian for Latinx Studies

Jennifer Snow, Librarian for Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Sociology

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