GSFS 305: Feminist Research Methodologies

This guide is designed to kickstart student research in GSFS 305 by highlighting key resources, databases, and strategies in the discipline. 

Here is a good, basic formula for getting started with your research:

• Begin by narrowing down your topic and developing an initial research question.
• Use the keyword brainstorming worksheet to help you tweak your research question, identify keywords and related terms, and keep track of what you find.  
• Use Search.Libraries to find books and reference sources.  These sources will:
  • provide BACKGROUND and CONTEXT
  • REVIEW and SUMMARIZE earlier work
  • help you FOCUS your topic and
  • provide CITATIONS to important books, journal articles, conference papers, interviews, etc.
• Next, search research databases to find articles. The library has hundreds of databases; those listed on this guide are good places to begin.
• You may also wish to use Google Scholar to search the Internet.  This is a great tool for doing cited reference searches.

BEAM is a method for classifying the function of a source in supporting an argument made in a piece of writing. Understanding the source's function can help you determine if a source is reliable in a particular context.

For example, when faculty say that only scholarly or peer-reviewed sources are acceptable for an assignment, they often mean that your argument and method sources must be scholarly, but do not expect that your exhibit sources (e.g., a poem, a historical document, government-produced data, the results of an original experiment) will be peer reviewed.