Finding articles
To find articles in journals, magazines, or newspapers, you will need to use one of the Library's print indexes or article databases. An index or article database will allow you to look for articles by title, by author, or by a few keywords that describe your topic. The databases most useful for research on sexuality topics are::
LGBT Life --
LGBT Life provides comprehensive coverage of traditional academic, cultural, lifestyle, and regional publications, including The Advocate, Lesbian News, Washington Blade, Bay Area Reporter, etc. LGBT Life also indexes & abstracts the full run of many historically significant titles such as ONE, The Ladder, Mattachine Review, Christopher Street and Body Politic. In addition, grey literature including non-fiction titles, bibliographies, case studies, and dissertations is also represented. Disciplines covered by LGBT Life include civil liberties, culture, employment, family, history, psychology, religion, sociology and more.
America History and Life
America: History and Life is the primary source of citations for articles, book reviews, book chapters, and dissertations on American and Canadian history. The database is not full text, but links are provided to full-text articles in other Library databases. Only sources published since 1964 are covered.
Academic Search Premiere
Coverage of 8025 journals and magazines drawn from all subject areas. Searches may be limited to full text and to peer reviewed publications. Date of coverage varies by journal with most coverage starting in the mid 1990s.
Essay & General Literature Index
Keyword searchable database of 65,000 essays contained in some 5,300 anthologies and collections published between 1985 to the present. Allows researchers in the social sciences and humanities to identify essays and chapters which have been published in other works.
Gender Studies Database
Women's Studies International and Men's Studies databases with the coverage of sexual diversity issues. GSD covers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. Several thousand links to freely available and indexed full-text articles and documents on the Web are available. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses & dissertations and other sources. Several hundred links provide access to carefully selected and important websites. This database includes more than 745,000 records with coverage spanning from 1972 and earlier to present.
Humanities and Social Sciences Retrospective
Citations to articles from major social science and humanities journals published from 1907-1984
Humanities Index
Citations to articles in ~550 core humanities journals from 1984-present. Subjects include: Area Studies; Art; Classical Studies; Communications; Film; Gender Studies; History; Linguistics; Literary & Social Criticism; Literature; Music; Performing Arts; Philosophy; Religion & Theology.
JSTOR
Not strictly speaking a database but a full text repository of scholarly journal articles. JSTOR isn't current; journals are represented up to three to five years ago.
SocINDEX
SocINDEX covers an array of social science disciplines, including: "anthropology, criminology, criminal justice, cultural sociology, demography, economic development, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, politics, religion, rural sociology, social psychology, social structure, social work, sociological theory, sociology of education, substance abuse, urban studies, violence, welfare", etc. Coverage: 2,500+ journals, books, conference papers.
Finding books
Search PSU Library's catalog, Vikat for books, journals (not individual articles), videos, government information, music and other material owned by the Library. You may search by keywords, author, title or subject headings.
Browsing the library shelves by call number is another strategy for locating information on a topic; call numbers can help you get to the "right neighborhood" in the library stacks.
| Class range | description of range from LC classification outline |
| HQ74-74.2 | Bisexuality |
| HQ 10-71 | Sex |
| HQ75-76.8 | Homosexuality. Lesbianism |
| HQ77-77.2 | Transvestism |
| HQ77.7-77.95 | Transexualism |
Subject headings allow you to search library catalogs for materials on a particular topic. Often subject heading searching can be more productive than searching by simple keywords. Listed here are some major subject headings of interest for research on topics related to sexuality. Copies of the complete set of the Library of Congress Subject Headings (which provides a comprehensive listing of headings used in academic library catalogs) are available at the 2nd floor Reference Desk.
| Desire | Men -- sexual behavior |
| Gay and lesbian studies | Same-sex marriage -- United States |
|
Gay liberation movement |
Sex -- Religious aspects. |
|
Gay men |
Sex (Biology) |
|
Gay men -- social life and customs |
Sex (psychology) in literature |
|
Gay rights |
Sex and law |
| Homosexuality--history | Sex crimes |
| Lesbianism | Sex Customs |
| Sex customs -- United states--history | |
| Lesbianism in literature | Sex in literature |
| Lesbians | Sexual ethics |
| Lesbians-social life and customs | Sexual orientation in literature |
| Male homosexuality | Sex United States-History |
| Male homosexuality in literature | Women sexual behavior |
Topic summary
Encyclopedias, subject-specific dictionaries and other reference book provide excellent background/overview information on a topic; they can be an excellent place to begin research.
Handbook of sexuallity related measures
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ 60 .h36 1998
Encyclopedia of sex and gender : men and women in the world's cultures. 2 vols.
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ16 .E53 2003
Sexuality : the essential glossary
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ9 .S49 2004
The Harvey Milk Institute guide to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer internet research
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ76.25 .H375 2002
Routledge international encyclopedia of queer culture
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ76.96 .R68 2006
Reader's guide to lesbian and gay studies
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ75.15 .R42 1999
Gay histories and cultures : an encyclopedia
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ75.13 .G37 2000
Lesbian histories and cultures : an encyclopedia
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ75.5 .L4395 2000
Encyclopedia of lesbian, gay, bisexual history in america
2nd floor -- Reference | HQ 76.3 .U5 E53 2004