A. The people who manage the Women's Studies Database are website editors, not literary critics. Therefore, they are unable to help you interpret poems or other literary works. To find out background or critical information on authors and their works, try visiting one or all of the following sites: Internet Public Library’s Online Literary Criticism Collection, which contains information on literary criticism, sorted by author’s last name, work title, and time period; Literary Criticism on the Web, or one of the sites listed on Yahoo’s Literary Criticism Page. Also, your local reference librarian should be able to assist you in locating published critiques and discussions of popular authors' works.

Q: Do you have any criticism/biographical information on the authors in the Reading Room (i.e., Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Bronte, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, etc.) ?

A: In the Women's Studies/Reading Room we only maintain the text of the works themselves, and not criticism or biographical data on the authors. To find more background information on these authors or their works, you can perform a basic internet search via one of the World Wide Web search tools, such as Google, Yahoo, or Excite. Furthermore, because these authors are well known, classic authors, there is a wealth of criticism about their lives and their works to be found in any library. Ask your local reference librarian for assistance.

Q: I'm looking for a particular poem by a specific author. Do you have it on your database ?

A: If you cannot find the poem you're looking for in the Women's Studies/Reading Room, you can perform a general internet search or you can search in your local library through a "collected works" of the author.

Q: I'm writing a research paper on feminism. Could you please send me any information about feminism that might be useful ?

A: Feminism is a broad, multi-valent and expansive area of study for which there is a wide range of resources. However, if you have a more specific area of interest you can search our database by keyword, or perform a general internet search with one of the internet search tools available.

Q: Is the Women's Studies database a part of University of Maryland's Women's Studies department ?

A: The Women's Studies web site is maintained by Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) staff. It is international in scope, and is not limited to the local academic department on campus.

Q: Where can I find internship/summer employment opportunities with women's organizations ?

A: Typically the Women's Studies/Employment directory consists of positions open in academia for professors and instructors. However, occassionally there are opportunities for students available, and these will appear in the Employment directory, and sometimes in the Announcements directory. Furthermore, several women's organizations have summer internship/employment programs - some organizations have information available on the internet and other organizations must be contacted directly. However, we do not conduct job searches for users.

Q: Where can I find information about scholarships specifically for women?

A: There is an abundance of scholarships and educational funding opportunities for women in different areas of study. You can perform a net search to locate any relevant information on the internet. However, this might not be the best way to perform a comprehensive scholarship search. There are many guides and compilations of such resources availabale in local and college libraries.

Q: I've been harassed by an employer/landlord/etc. Can you do anything to help me?

A: The Women's Studies database is an academic resource maintained by students at the University of Maryland. We cannot offer legal or clinical advice or assistance. However, our site contains links to several organizations who may be able to help you address your situation, such as National Organization for Women (NOW) and other international, national and local women's advocacy organizations. These organizations are in a better position to offer you guidance in these trying situations.

Q: I've used one of the files on the Women's Studies database in a paper. How do I cite it ?

A: You can find documentation on citing online references, including the APA Style Guide and MLA Style Guide, at http://www.lib.umd.edu/UES/citing.html