Note:

Below you will find a few suggestions for searching this topic. These suggestions aren't the only way to find materials, but they may help to get you started.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

I. Find Background

Reference Sources:

  • Cambridge World History of Human Disease
    Includes a discussion of fetal alcohol syndrome within an article on Diseases of Infancy and Early Childhood. Open the pdf to view the article. Tip: Download the pdf and use the key command CTRL F to search fetal alcohol within the entry. 
  • Access Science
    Includes an entry that describes the etiology of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in an article titled "Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder."

Searching for journal articles may be another way to find historical background:

II. Search the Library Catalog

To find scientific (medical) texts, histories,  and “popular” materials (written for the general public) along with some primary sources:

  1. Go to the library catalog.
  2. Enter your search: Fetal alcohol syndrome
  3. Note: For more precise searching, you can also Limit Your Search (left-hand menu). Scroll down the menu to find Subject and more to see all the subject subheadings and related subject headings. 
  4. For some primary source materials, see: Fetal alcohol syndrome > Patients > Family relationships .

III. Find current Scholarly Journal Articles (secondary sources)

Databases:

  • PubMed
    A search for fetal alcohol syndrome returns over 4,000 results! To narrow this down a bit, try "fetal alcohol syndrome" and overview
  • PsycInfo
    Suggested search:
    On the first line, type fetal alcohol syndrome OR fetal alcohol spectrum disorder;
    On the next line, add "history"

IV. Find current and historical “popular” (i.e. written for the general public, rather than for specialists) articles about fetal alcohol syndrome

Current articles

  • Proquest Research Library
    Enter your search terms: "fetal alcohol syndrome" or "fetal alcohol spectrum disorder";
    Place quotation marks around phrases;
    From the list of results, filter to Magazines; and select a time period;
    Under Publication Titles, select "more" to select specific magazine titles of interest.

Historical Articles

Could be trickier. Some of the literature suggests that this was first "discovered" in 1973. Other literature suggests that it has been known for centuries. You might try broadening your search to alcohol and pregnancy.

  • Proquest Historical Newspapers
    Select the Advanced Search;
    Sample search:  (babies OR infants) AND alcohol AND (mothers OR women);
    In the right-hand column, scroll down to adjust the date ranges (prior to 1973?)
  • American Periodicals
    This database contains periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically-significant periodicals. Sample search:
    Select the Advanced Search;
    Suggested search (to start): (babies OR infants) AND alcohol AND (mothers OR women);
    Scroll down to choose Document type(s);
    Under "Source Type," you can  limit to scholarly articles or magazine articles (so, both "popular" and scholarly primary source material).