Research Guides: WMST 263: Introduction to Black Women's Studies: Narrowing Your Topic

Sometimes the hardest aspect of research is deciding what to write about! But, since you have your topics, the next hardest thing narrowing it down.
Here are some links to some good sites on narrowing your topic:

Example topic focus:
Black Women in STEM
How to increase interest in STEM fields among high school female students? college female students?
How to keep women in STEM fields by providing a welcoming and sustaining workplace environment? Part-time; flexible scheduling, teleworking, job sharing...
How to attract and increase minority women in STEM fields?

One of the best places to help you decide on a topic and get some good background information and an introduction is the
Credo Reference database.
Search for a topic or person
both terms are used: black or african american
black women discrimination
black women politics
black women fashion industry
(black or african american) and women
(black or african american) and women and incarceration
(black or african american) and women and activism
shondra rhimes
barbara jordan

Use worldcat, our catalog and get some books to spur some ideas of major issues facing black women.

Listed below are some subject encyclopedias to get you started.
Searches in worldcat include:
women encyclopedia*
"african american*" women encyclopedia*
"african american*" encyclopedia*
women encyclopedia* social
women encyclopedia* cultur*

Retrieve too many? use the filters on the left: format / date
Click on - Description - for additional subject headings, table of contents, summary

Then, when you have selected a topic, find additional books using the search strategies (see Search Strategies tab)

Battleground: women, gender and sexuality by Amy Lind; Stephanie Brzuzy
Call Number: Online
Whether in the home or in the public arenas of media, work, sports, politics, art or religion, women often become embroiled as subjects in the political, social, and cultural debates in America.
Multimedia Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World by Mary Z. Stange; Carol K. Oyster (Editor); Jane E. Sloan (Editor)
Call Number: Online
"The Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World looks at women today and delves into contexts of being female in the 21st century. The scope of the Encyclopedia focuses on women's status starting approximately in the year 2000 and going forward. From A-to-Z, this work will cover the spectrum of defining women in the contemporary world. Signed entries (with cross-references and recommended readings) cover the full range of issues in contemporary women's studies, with volumes including information relevant to the following academic disciplinary contexts: arts and media; business and economics; criminal justice; education; family studies; health; media; military; politics; science and technology; sports; religion; and women in different cultures and countries"
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History by Colin A. Palmer
Call Number: Online
A five-volume set and supplement covering all aspects of the African-American experience from 1619 to the present day. Using biographies, historical essays, and thematic pieces, many written by foremost scholars, it addresses a wide array of subjects in over 2,300 articles to define in one source the cultural roots, participation in American life, and current condition of the African-American community.
Civil Rights Movement in America, the: from Black Nationalism to the Women's Political Council by Peter Levy (Editor)
Call Number: Online
This single volume encyclopedia not only provides accessible A Z entries about the well-known people and events of the Civil Rights Movement but also offers coverage of lesser-known contributors to the movement's overall success and outcomes. This comprehensive work provides both authoritative ready reference and curricular content presented in a lively and accessible format that will support inquiry, critical thinking, and a deeper understanding of the importance of the time period. "The Civil Rights Movement in America: From Black Nationalism to the Women's Political Council" provides high school readers with accessible factual information and sources for further exploration. Its entries serve to document how the movement eventually toppled Jim Crow and inspired broader struggles for human rights, including the women's and gay liberation movements in the United States and around the globe. Just as importantly, the events of the civil rights movement serve to demonstrate the ability of ordinary people such as Rosa Parks to alter the course of history an apt lesson for all readers."
Encyclopedia of Gender and Society by Jodi A. O'Brien (Editor)
Call Number: Online
A comprehensive, two-volume encyclopedia covering the major theories, research, people and issues in contemporary gender studies.
Encyclopedia of Gender in Media by Mary Kosut
Call Number: Online
The media strongly influences our everyday notions of gender roles and our concepts of gender identity. The Encyclopedia of Gender in Media critically examines the role of the media in enabling, facilitating, or challenging the social construction of gender in our society.

Not sure what tv program / movie / album / individual woman to study? You might start with these books / videos streaming and web sites.
keywords to use:
african american women television
women television
women motion pictures
women film directors
Women motion picture producers and directors
women musicians
performance art women

Once you find a book or two that look to be relevant, click on Description for additional subjects to search.

Women in Hollywood
Call Number: Online
Follow the women of showbiz, from the earliest pioneers to present-day power players as they influence entertainment. Hear from actress-producer-activist Jane Fonda, who at 75 is playing a sharp, sexy and powerful media mogul on the award-winning series "The Newsroom"; television powerhouse Shonda Rhimes, who created "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal"; screenwriter Linda Woolverton, who re-imagined the traditional Disney princess by making Belle (Beauty and the Beast) a self-possessed, strong-willed young woman; writer-director-actress Lena Dunham, who mines comedy and drama gold by exploring what it's really like to be a young woman today; six-time Academy Award nominee Glenn Close; director Nancy Meyers; and actress Zoe Saldana.
Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema by S. Torriano Berry; Venise T. Berry
Call Number: MCK STACKS PN1995.9.N4 B433 2007
"The Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema includes hundreds of films, everything from The Birth of a Nation to Crash. In addition to the films, brief biographies of African American actors and actresses such as Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Halle Berry, Eddie Murphy, Whoopi Goldberg, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx are also detailed. This book provides a better understanding of the role African Americans played in film history through a chronology, a list of acronyms and abbreviations, an introductory essay, a bibliography, appendixes, photos, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on actors, actresses, movies, producers, organizations, awards, film credits, and terminology."
There She Goes by Corinn Columpar (Editor); Sophie Mayer (Editor);
Call Number: MCK STACKS PN1995.9.W6 T42 2009
There She Goes presents a an exciting new appraisal of feminist film culture.
Studies in Popular Music by Helen Reddington
Call Number: Online
In the late 1970s and early 1980s a new phenomenon emerged in UK popular music - female guitarists, bass-players, keyboard-players and drummers began playing in bands. Before this time, womenOCOs presence in rock bands, with a few notable exceptions, had always been as vocalists. This sudden influx of female musicians into the male domain of rock music was brought about by the enabling ethic of punk rock (anybody can do it ) and by the impact of the Sex Discrimination Act.
Film Fatales by Judith M. Redding; Victoria A. Brownworth
Call Number: MCK STACKS PN1998.2 .R43 1997
Film Fatales offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives and work of women filmmakers. Profiled here are over thirty pioneering directors, producers, and distributors who have changed the face of contemporary film by delivering new and distinctly female images and sensibilities for the screen.
Women in Music by Karin Pendle; Melinda Boyd
Call Number: Performing Arts Library Reference ML128.W7 P46 2010
Women in Music: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography emerging from more than twenty-five years of feminist scholarship on music. This book testifies to the great variety of subjects and approaches represented in over two decades of published writings on women, their work, and the important roles that feminist outlooks have played in formerly male-oriented academic scholarship or journalistic musings on women and music.
Women on Screen by Melanie Waters (Editor); Stacy Gillis (Editor)
Call Number: MCK STACKS PN1995.9.W6 W666 2011
;timely intervention into debates on the representation of feminist and feminine identities in contemporary visual culture. The essays in this collection interrogate how and why certain formulations of feminism and femininity are currently prevalent in mainstream cinema and television, offering new insights into postfeminist media phenomena.
Critical Studies in Television by Peter Bjelskou
Call Number: Online
Branded Women in U.S. Television examines how The Real Housewives of New York City, Martha Stewart, and other female entrepreneurs create branded televised versions of the iconic U.S. housewife.
Women Television Producers by Robert Alley; Irby B. Brown
Call Number: MCK STACKS PN1992.4.A2 A45 2001
In their 1983 book The Producer's Medium authors Robert Alley and Horace Newcomb made the point that "There are, to our regret, no women and no minority members in this book because the structure of the television industry, like the structure of American society, has been dominated by white males." But in that year producer Marcy Carsey was working on selling the new "Cosby Show," which premiered in 1984, to NBC and its president, Grant Tinker. The focus of Women Television Producers is upon a new cadre of woman producers, who, as a result of rulings by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in the early seventies, found employment in the three major networks beginning in 1971-72. In the following decade many of them emerged as television producers and writers.
Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series by Vicki Callahan
Call Number: Online
Reclaiming the Archive: Feminism and Film History brings together a diverse group of international feminist scholars to examine the intersections of feminism, history, and feminist theory in film.

If you are going to focus on an individual women, in most cases you can search just with first name last name, if you retrieve too many documents that are not relevant, try placing the name in quotes, last name, first name.

kasi lemmons
julie dash

add additional words:
criticism
interview*
biography

Strategies for the databases:
1. Place the name in quotes:
"ava duvernay"
"serena williams"
"toni braxton"

2. If retrieve too many results add defining words:
interview*
criticism

other keywords that describe the profession
singer
musician
director
producer
athlete

title of the work
selma
"how to get away with murder"
"girl on fire"

other keywords that describe any issues
racism
discrimination
inequality
class
acceptance
violence

3. If still retrieve too many results or results are not relevant, change the search field from Select a Field (optional) to SU Subject and last name, first name