General Purpose and Audience

Women's Studies is an interdisciplinary field which studies traditional academic disciplines viewed through the lenses of women and gender and sexual minorities.  Students and scholars of Women's Studies conduct in-depth analyses of the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, and other axes of identity.  Women's Studies provides an open atmosphere for the exchange of ideas and expressions of concern over a wide range of feminist, gender, and sexuality issues on campuses and in communities, states, regions, and the world.  

As this is an interdisciplinary field, the disciplinary background is varied and pulls from Anthropology, Art History, English, History, Gender Studies, Global Studies, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Sociology, and other fields that have discussed or are currently discussing women.  Therefore, the formats and assignments will vary greatly.  Individual instructors will provide details about each assignment as necessary.  This is not meant to be an all-inclusive resource but to give an overview of what can be expected from study in this discipline.  When in doubt, consult the traditional academic discipline with which your course is associated for more specific information about audiences, formatting, types of evidence, and types of assignments.

Types of Writing

  • Response Papers

  • Presentations

  • Reflective Essays (Metacognition)

  • Rhetorical and Formal Analyses

  • Research Papers

  • Theoretical Experience Essays 

  • Narratives

  • Reports 

  • Ethnographies

  • Interviews

  • Service Learning Reports

Types of Evidence

  • Primary Sources:
    • Interviews, literary works, historical works, philosophical texts, any source that contains a first-hand account of women’s studies
  • Secondary Sources:
    • Critical books, articles, and secondary accounts that provide a critical lens through which to view women’s studies
  • Artifacts:
    • Museum installations, video art, performance, new media, graphic design, prints, drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, and architecture that refer to women’s studies 

Writing Conventions

Because Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary field, writing conventions will vary according to the associated academic discipline in which a person is writing.

  • Research writing should be in active voice. 
  • Evidence should be clearly cited and accurately documented.
  • Papers in Women’s Studies should generally have an original claim (thesis), clear organization in support of that thesis, transitions, analysis of sources, and an obvious purpose. 

Common Terms and Concepts

  • Asexuality 

  • Consciousness Groups

  • Deconstruction

  • Discourse

  • Diversity

  • Ecofeminism 

  • Feminism

  • Feminist Theory

  • Feminist Standpoint

  • Gender

  • Gender Identity

  • Gender Mainstreaming

  • Gender Performance 

  • Glass Ceiling

  • Hegemony

  • Heteronormativity

  • Human Rights

  • Intersectionality

  • Intersex

  • Implicit Bias

  • Jouissance

  • L’ecriture Feminine

  • LGBTQIA Studies

  • Male Gaze

  • Marriage Equality 

  • Misogyny

  • Patriarchy

  • Performativity

  • Phallocentric

  • Queer Studies

  • Queer Theory

  • Sexism

  • Sexual Identity

  • Sexuality

  • Social Construction

  • Transgender

  • Transnational Feminism

Documentation Style

Common style guides in Women’s Studies are MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian.