PS/LAST/GWST 227: Women and Latin American Politics

To begin searching for journal articles on topics related to women and politics, begin with the resources below.

For additional databases, see the library's A-Z list of databases or the databases by subject list.

NOTE: Databases marked with * are provided by the vendor EBSCOhost and can be searched simultaneously. See this quick guide on using EBSCOhost databases.

Using subject headings (also called subject terms or descriptors) in databases can help you narrow your search results to those most relevant to your topic.

There are 2 ways to use subject headings - you can find them as you search, or you can identify them using the database's thesaurus.

Finding subjects in search results

1. Begin your search with keywords related to your topic:
   E.g., Women AND politics AND Latin America 
    
2. Find an article that most closely resembles what you're looking for, and look at it's subject headings. Identify the headings that are most relevant to your topic.
    
   
   
3. Perform a new search using those terms as subjects or descriptors: 
    

Finding subjects in the thesaurus

1. In the database, find the link to the Thesaurus. This may also be called something like Subject Terms, or you may need to access it through an Indexes menu. These let you search a listing of the subjects in a database.
    
   
   
2. Search the list starting with your keywords, and identify subject headings that match your topic. NOTE: you can search for a single word and browse the list, or you can combine multiple keywords.
   
   
   
3. From the results list, you can:
• click the linked subject to get more details, including related terms
• check the box next to the subject to add it to your search, select the proper operator (AND, OR, NOT) and click the Add button:
   
  
  
4. You can perform your search or continue to browse the subject list and add additional terms.