Research Guides: History 319: Gender and the Family in Chinese History: Using Reference Sources

Research Tip: Use Reference Sources

Use Reference Sources

Begin your research by using reference sources to get:

ideas for your paper
overviews of a topic
a list of recommended resources

Go beyond Wikipedia by using librarian-recommended reference sources.

Bibliographies

Women in China from Earliest Times to the Present
Call Number: ONLINE RESOURCE
Provides an extensive bibliography of works in Western languages. Arranged by author. Use the "search within book" function to find materials on a topic. Be sure to try all endings of a word and synonyms.
Women in China: Bibliography of English Language Materials
Call Number: SAWYER HQ1767 .C47 1984
Contains over 4,000 entries arranged under 12 general subjects. Includes reportage by Western visitors and missionaries and translations of literature and news.
China (World Bibliographical Series, v. 35)
Call Number: Sawyer Reference DS735 .C465 1997
Annotated bibliography of primarily English-language books. Contains sections on economy; finance and banking; international trade and business, industry; and more.

Using Articles to Get Topic Ideas

If you are looking for topic ideas, you might browse through the table of contents of issues of the journal

Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China

Williams does not have a subscription to this journal, but we can borrow articles through interlibrary loan. Articles from this journal will also come up in searches done in Historical Abstracts, Bibliography of Asian Studies, and Women's Studies International.

Biographical Sources

Biography (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new window
Includes biographical profiles from reference sources, newspapers, magazines, and journals. Covers all time periods and areas of the world.

Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women
Call Number: SAWYER HQ1767.5.A3 B56 1998
Provides detailed biographies of the lives, work, and significance of Chinese women from many different backgrounds and areas of interest. Volume 1 covers 1644-1911 and Volume 2 covers 1912-2000.

Standard biographical dictionaries of China often do not include full biographies of women, but using the subject index, you can see how women appear in men's lives. Find these biographical sources in the reference collection by searching China -- Biography and limit to Sawyer Reference as the location.