Shipps served as a senior editor of The Journals of William McLellin, 1831–1836, the earliest extended account of the Mormon experience.

Shipps has studied how perceptions of Mormons have changed over time and the process by which Latter Day Saints have gained a sense of distinctive self-identity.

This syndrome, Shipps argues, may be due to the fact that Utah and Mormon history is dramatically different from the settlement of the rest of the West.

Since retiring from being a professor, Shipps continues to write about Latter Day Saint history and consults with journalists about news on the movement.

In 2005, she gave a paper on the LDS Church at a global religion at a conference commemorating Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, held at the Library of Congress.