Gender Studies in the University Library: Subject orientation

To get a grip on new or unfamiliar concepts, you might ease your start by consulting general dictionaries or encyclopedias.

• Wikipedia: as a starting point, not as a full right reference in an academic paper.. 
• Collection of licensed digital reference works: i.e. Oxford Reference.
• For other disciplines than Gender Studies, chose a discipline and filter by Type 'Encyclopedia'

You can use bibliographical seach engines from different countries and with different scopes.

• Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland is a biographical index to Dutch women (before 1850).
• all the biographical search engines of the UU for the Humanities
• filter by Type 'Biographies' after having selected a specific discipline

In scholarly research, Wikipedia can be used for:

• Initial exploration of a subject
• Gaining ideas about search terms to be used
• Finding out or checking facts, but please do a double-check
• Literature references: often there are references to a small number of crucial publications
• Source references: in the footnotes of many articles detailed source references can be found
• As object of study: in what way is a subject written about in an influential reference work?
• As quick translation tool, for words, but particularly for concepts for which mainstream (online) dictionaries offer no solution

Please bear in mind that the various language versions of Wikipedia may differ:  as a rule the larger versions (for instance the English version) is of a higher quality, because on average more people contribute to an article. Compare the article in the different language versions.

Another thing one can do is study the talk pages of an article. It shows the (low or high) level of discussion amongst editors. You can take that into account in your decision on how to use the information provided in the article.

Contrary to what is often thought, Wikipedia is a reference work with explicit rules, policy and control.

In the special LibGuide Wikipedia  more details, background information and examples of good Wikipedia-use.

The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of gender and sexuality studies
Publication year: 2016
Available for consultation at the Utrecht University Library City Center
(not for loan) : Collection ALG: 02.60 06 *2016nw.

A Dictionary of Gender Studies  (2017)

Subjects covered: cyber feminism, the double burden, and the male gaze, and gender-focused definitions of more general terms, such as housework, intersectionality, and trolling. It also covers major feminist figures, including Hélène Cixous, bell hooks, and Mary Wollstonecraft, as well as groups and movements from Votes for Women to Reclaim the Night..