Family & Consumer Studies Research Guide
The major purpose of class assignments is to write a paper based on your search of published literature. The purpose of the research guide is to introduce you to the process of literature search and familiarize you with a variety of sources available for you.
Select a topic that is of interest to you. If in doubt, talk to your instructor regarding a chosen topic. You might want to seek help from reference librarians who are knowledgeable about search strategies necessary for locating needed information.
Prof. Inna Shpilko
Bibliographer for Family and Consumer Sciences
Books
As an initial step, gather background information of your topic in general and/or specialized encyclopedias or dictionaries. These reference sources provide useful overviews of a topic and may include in their bibliographies resources you can further use in your paper. Then, search the CUNY online catalog or other catalogs to locate relevant books.
Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
- International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family (Ref. HQ9 .E52 2003, 4 vols.)
- Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America (Ref. E184 .A1 G14 2000, 3 vols.)
- Encyclopedia of Family Life (Ref. HQ534 .E53 1999, 5 vols.)
- Encyclopedia of Furnishing Textiles, Floorcoverings, and Home Furnishing Practices, 1200-1950 (Ref. NK1710 .E39 2007)
Find Books
- The CUNY Catalog
- Search for books at the Queens College libraries, as well as other CUNY libraries.
- Other Library Catalogs
- Search the library catalogs of regional libraries such as the Queens Library, Brooklyn Public Library, New York University, Columbia University, etc.
- WorldCat
- Search for books in the national catalog for the United States and Canada. Includes holdings from libraries in other parts of the world, primarily European or English-speaking.
Articles (Search Databases)
Use online databases or periodical indexes to select journal articles you want to read. A journal article is written by a scholar or an expert, and provides a detailed analysis of a topic. Sometimes, searching one database is not enough. Search multiple databases to obtain the most comprehensive information. You can find bibliographic citations to books and journal articles, as well as full text of some documents.
Most of the databases listed below are available for Queens College faculty and students through the library subscriptions and could be found on the QC Libraries Home page.
- Academic Search Complete
- Multidisciplinary.
- America: History and Life
- American studies, Africana studies, history.
- Biography Reference Bank
- Biography, multidisciplinary.
- Ethnic Newswatch
- English and Spanish newspapers and magazines of the ethnic minority and native press. Provides unique viewpoints from the Arab-American, Asian-American, Jewish- American, Latino-American, Native-American, and other communities.
- Infoshare
- Statistics for local areas of New York City and New York State. Demographic data from the 1980, 1990, 2000 census. Health, immigration, socio-economic data since the 1990s.
- PsycInfo
- Citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations, in the field of psychology and related disciplines, such as psychiatry, pharmacology, nursing. Covers psychological aspects of the social sciences.
- SocINDEX
- Abstracts to English-language journal and magazine articles, conference papers, book chapters and book reviews. For topics such as demography, family, gender, social work.
- Sociological Abstracts
- International literature in all topics of sociology, such as criminology, demography, family, social welfare. Abstracts to journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers, and citations to book reviews.
Journals (Browse E-Journals)
- Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal
- Family Relations
- Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics
- Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences (formerly Journal of Home Economics)
- Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education
- Journal of Family History
Internet Resources
In addition, you might consider searching the Internet/World Wide Web to locate valuable information in your field of study published by the federal government or government agencies, professional societies, academic institutions or research centers. Always evaluate the quality of information you identify and retrieve.
Government Resources
- USA.gov — Consumer Guides and Protection
- Consumer.gov
- U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Associations, Societies & Organizations
Universities, Colleges & Research Centers
- Department of Family, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences—FNES (Queens College, CUNY)
- Home Economics Archives (Cornell University, New York)
- “From Domesticity to Modernity—What Was Home Economics?” (Cornell University, New York)
- Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide (Harvard University)
