Od kasnih 1920-tih, McClintock je intenzivno proučavala hromosome i njihove promjene tokom reprodukcije kukuruza. Njen rad smatra se revolucionarnim jer je razvila tehnike za vizuelizaciju hromosoma kukuruza i koristila mikroskopske analize u dokazivanju nekih fundamentalnih postulata, kao što je genetička rekombinacija putem krosing-overa, tokom mejoze — mehanizam u kojim hromosomi razmjenjuju sekvence hromatida. Rekonstruirala je prvu genetičku mapu, analizom vezanih gena kukuruza, povezujući regione hromosoma sa fizičkim svojstvima i demonstrirala uloge telomera i centromera, regiona hromosoma koji su važni za konzveriranje genetičke informacije.[3] Barbara McClintock bila je priznata kao jedna od najboljih naučnica svoga vremena, nagrađivana prestižnim stipendijama, i izabrana za člana Nacionalne akademije nauka SAD 1944.[4]
Tokom 1940-tih i 1950-tih, McClintock je otkrila transpozone i koristila ih kao dokaz da su geni odgovorni za fizičke karakteristike. Razvila je teorije kojima se objašnjava represija ili genetičke informacije sa jedne generacije kukuruza na narednu. Zbog onovremenog skepticitizma u značaj njenih istraživanja i njihovih implikacija, 1953. prestala je da objavljuje svoje nalaze. Kasnije se ispostavilo da je svoje poglede temeljila na naučnoj osnovi, umjesto na važećim predrasudama svoga doba.[5]
Kasnije se posvetila ekstenzivnim citogenetičkim i etnobotaničkim istraživanjima kukuruznihsorti iz Južne Amerika. Njena istraživanja su bila šire prihvaćena tek tokom 1960-tih i 1970-tih, kada je dokazano da mehanizmi genetičke promjene i regulacija ekspresije gena, koje je demonstrirala na kukuruzu 1940-tih i 1950-tih, imaju općenit značaj. Uslijedile su nagrade i priznanja za doprinos razvoju citogenetike, uključujući Nobelovu nagradu za fiziologiju ili medicinu 1983, za otkriće genetičke transpozicije. Ostalo je zabilježeno da je Barbara McClintock jedina žena koja je samostalno dobila ovu nagradu u toj kategoriji.[6]
Coe, Ed and Lee B. Kass. 2005. "Proof of physical exchange of genes on the chromosomes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 102 (No. 19, May): 6641-6656. doi:10.1073/pnas.0407340102PMID 15867161
Comfort, Nathaniel C. (1999) ""The real point is control": The reception of Barbara McClintock's controlling elements". Journal of the History of Biology 32:133–62. PMID 11623812
Comfort, Nathaniel C. . The tangled field: Barbara McClintock's search for the patterns of genetic control. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA.|year=2001|isbn=978-0-674-00456-6}}
Kass, Lee B. 2003. "Records and recollections: A new look at Barbara McClintock, Nobel Prize-Winning geneticist". Genetics 164 (August): 1251-1260.
Kass, Lee B. 2005. "Harriet Creighton: Proud botanist". Plant Science Bulletin. 51(4): 118-125. Available online, December 2005: Botanical Society of America
Kass, Lee B. 2005. "Missouri compromise: tenure or freedom. New evidence clarifies why Barbara McClintock left Academe". Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter 79: 52-71; article without footnotes or photographs; available, online April 2005: Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter
Kass, Lee B. and Christophe Bonneuil. 2004. "Mapping and seeing: Barbara McClintock and the linking of genetics and cytology in maize genetics, 1928-1935". Chapt 5. стр. 91–118, in Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and Jean-Paul Gaudilliere (eds.), Classical Genetic Research and its Legacy: The Mapping Cultures of 20th Century Genetics. London: Routledge.
Keller, Evelyn Fox (1983) A feeling for the organism. W. H. Freeman and Company.|publisher=|location=New York|year=|isbn=978-0-7167-1433-0}}
Bogdanov, Yu. F. (2002) A life devoted to science. In "Commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Barbara McClintock". Russian Journal of Genetics 38:984–87. PMID 12430570
Fedoroff, Nina V. 2002. "The well mangled McClintock myth". Trends in Genetics 18 (7): 378-379.
Kass, L. B. 1999. "Current list of Barbara McClintock's publications". Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter 73: 42-48. Available online, 1998: Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter
Kass, Lee B. 2000. "McClintock, Barbara, American botanical geneticist, 1902-1992". стр. 66–69, in Plant Sciences. edited by R. Robinson. Macmillan Science Library, USA.
Kass, L. B. 2002. "The Tangled Field, by N. Comfort". Isis. 93 (4): 729-730.
Kass, L. B., 2004. Identification of photographs for the Barbara McClintock papers on the National Library of Medicine website. Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter 78: 24-26, available online, 2003: Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter
Kass Lee, B. 2007. Harriet B. Creighton (1909–2004), on Women Pioneers in Plant Biology, American Society of Plant Biologists website, edited by Ann Hirsch. Published online, February 2007: American Society of Plant Biologists* Kass Lee, B. 2007. Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), on Women Pioneers in Plant Biology, American Society of Plant Biologists website, Ann Hirsch editor. Published online, March 2007:
Kass, L. B. and R. P. Murphy. 2003. "Will the real Maize Genetics Garden please stand up?" Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter. 77: 41-43. Available online, 2003: Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter
Kass, L. B and W. B. Provine. 1999 (&1998). Formerly restricted interview with Barbara McClintock, now available at Cornell University Archives. Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter. 73: 41. Available online, 1998: Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter
Kass, Lee B. Chris Bonneuil, and Ed Coe. 2005. "Cornfests, cornfabs and cooperation: The origins and beginnings of the Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter". Genetics 169 (April): 1787-1797. Available online, May 6, 2005: Genetics Society of America
Murphy, R.P. and L.B. Kass. 2007. Evolution of Plant Breeding at Cornell University: A Centennial History, 1907-2006. Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. стр. 1–98, Appendices A1-A98, Photo Section P1-P38. (July 2007).
Kass, L. B. and Chomet, P. 2009. Barbara McClintock, Pgs. 17-52, in J. Bennetzen and S. Hake, Editors, Handbook of Maize: Genetics and Genomics. Springer.
Jones, R.N. 2005. "McClintock's controlling elements: the full story". Cytogenetics Research 109:90–103 PMID 15753564
Lamberts, William J. (2000) "McClintock, Barbara". American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press
Nina Fedoroff and Botstein, David . The Dynamic Genome: Barbara McClintock's Ideas in the Century of Genetics. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.|publisher=|location=New York|year=1993|isbn=978-0-87969-396-1}}