Research help

This guide will provide assistance with finding scholarly material to support the research paper assignment.  For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Sociology / Anthropology by email moninder_lalli@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian.

Essay  

Start Your Research Here - This page gives you an overview of the research process, or in other words how to find materials for your essay.

Selected handbooks and encyclopedias

Use encyclopedias, handbooks or textbook for overviews, definitions, and to identify key authors or concepts. 

• Encyclopedia of the history of Arabic science [print]
• Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-western cultures
  • This encyclopedia has essays such as,
  • "Colonialism and Science" by Michael Adas
  • "Colonialism and Science in India" by Deepak Kumar
  • "East and West" by Edwin J. Van Kley
  • "East and West: China in the Transmission of Knowledge from East to West" by Christoph Koerbs
  • "East and West: Islam in the Transmission of Knowledge East to West" by Richard C. Taylor"
  • "Medicine and colonialism in India" by Ranès C. Chakravorty
  • "Medicine in China" by Cai Jingfeng"
  • "Physics in China" by R.A. Uritam
  • "Physics in India" by William T. Johnson
  • "Science as a Western Phenomenon" by Roshdi Rashed
  • "Science East and West" by Dhruv Raina
  • "Science of the Native Americans" by Ubiratan D'ambrosio
  • "Western Dominance" by Michael Adas

Find journal articles using databases

Searching the "Databases for a discipline" is a great strategy to view articles that have been written within the scholarly journals of that discipline.  For help, refer to the How to find journal articles, What is a scholarly journal?, and Finding articles: Advanced search techniques [video 3:13 mins]

If full-text of article is not available from within the database, click on the "Get@SFU" link to find it or to initiate an inter-library loan request.

• Anthropology Plus
  Key database for Anthropological journal articles.
• AnthroSource
  Full-text access to journals produced by the American Anthropological Association
• ProQuest Sociology Collection - for issues related to class, gender, racism, sexuality and sexism and theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science.
• Social Sciences Full Text -- for scholarly articles in social sciences
• Bibliography of Asian Studies
• Historical Abstracts
  Indexes literature on the history of the world since 1450 except for the United States and Canada.
• JSTOR.​ Scholarly journals mainly in the arts, humanities and social sciences, including Asian studies
• Project Muse Search. Humanities and social sciences periodicals, including periodicals on Asian studies

Multiple database searching in databases on the Ebsco platform

In the databases on the Ebsco platform, you can use the link "choose databases" (right above the search box), select relevant databases and then search them altogether. 

For example, I selected the following:  Historical Abstracts, Academic Search Complete, Anthropology Plus, Applied Science & Technology Index (H.W. Wilson), Bibliography of Asian Studies, Biological & Agricultural Index Plus (H.W. Wilson), General Science Abstracts (H.W. Wilson)

Search: 

china  <------ name of country
AND 
SU ( science OR techolog* OR biolog* OR physics OR astronomy OR medicine OR mathemathics )  <------ terms limited to "subject" field
AND 
SU ( histor* OR ancient )   <------ terms limited to "subject" field

results (limited to English language, academic journals and selected subjects)

Selected journals

• East Asian science, technology, and medicine
• History of Science
• History of Science in South Asia (open access journal)
• Isis (A Journal of the History of Science in Society)
• Journal of Oriental Studies (available 2005 - 2020)

Find books

The Library Catalogue provides access to books, journal articles, videos, government documents and much more.  To limit the search results to "books", use the filter (left-hand column in search results) to "resource type" of "books."

Library Catalogue search guide

Search the SFU Library Catalogue, either the Basic or the Advanced search

Search by topic

Note: In the searches below, search results have been limited to "Resource type" of "Books" and selected "Subjects"Combine different concepts using AND

Basic search:

• science AND (post-colonial* OR colonial* OR imperialis*)
• science AND "indigenous knowledge*"
• science AND "traditional knowledge*"
• science AND ("traditional knowledge*"  OR "indigenous knowlege") AND asia*

Advanced search:

Combine same concepts using OR
Use quotation marks to search for a phrase
Use brackets for synonyms
Use asterisk (*) for different endings of words

Note:  For Catalogue Search, when combining concepts, use CAPITAL letters ( "OR", "AND")

Selected books

• Arithmetic of al-Uqlidisi : the story of Hindu-Arabic arithmetic as told in Kitab al-Fusul fi al-Hisab al-Hindi 
• Cambridge history of science (multiple volumes)
• Chinese roots of linear algebra [print (not available), e-book on order]
• Evolution of Chinese medicine : Song dynasty, 960-1200
• Fleeting footsteps tracing the conception of arithmetic and algebra in ancient China
• A history of Arabic sciences and mathematics 
• Herbal Medicine in India: Indigenous Knowledge, Practice, Innovation and Its Value
• Historiography of the history of science in Islamicate societies : practices, concepts, questions
• History of science, technology, environment, and medicine in India 
• Hospitals in Iran and India, 1500-1950s 
• Indigenous Knowledge and Ethnomathematics
• Introduction to Science and Technology Studies [print and e-book with 3 simultaneous users access]
• Mathematics, astronomy and biology in Indian tradition 
• Muslim contribution to mathematics
• Natural science of the ancient Hindus [print]
• Observations of comets from BC 611 to AD 1640 : extracted from the Chinese annals, translated with introductory remarks
• On their own terms science in China, 1550-1900 
• Shorter Science and civilisation in China : an abridgement of Joseph Needham's original text [print]
• Science and civilisation in China [print -- 7 volumes in multiple parts]
• Science and civilisation in China. Vol.6. Pt.6, Biology and biological technology. Medicine 
• Science as cultural practice. Volume 1, Cultures and politics of research from the early modern period to the age of extremes
• Science in culture [print]
• Science in traditional China : a comparative perspective [ --> access through Internet Archive link]
  • Search in Internet Archive: Needham, Joseph 
    • Science and civilization: Physics and the Physical Technology (vol. 4)
    • Science and civilization: Chemistry and Chemical Technology (vol 5)
    • etc.
• Traditional ecological knowledge of resource management in Asia 
• What a Mushroom Lives For: Matsutake and the Worlds They Make [print]

Browse search

Choose: Browse tab, change "title" to "subject"

Some useful subject headings for this course: 

• Astronomy -- China -- History
• Astronomy, Chinese
• Hindu Mathematics
• Medicine -- China -- History
• Medicine -- India -- History
• Mathematics -- Arab
• Mathematics, Chinese
• Science -- [name of country]
• Science -- China
• Science -- China -- History
• Science -- India -- History
• Science -- Social aspects
• see also --> Science -- Social aspects -- [name of country]
• Science -- Social aspects -- China

Library guides

• Library Research Tutorials. Animated tutorials on search techniques for finding books and journal articles.
• Annotated bibliographies
• Evaluating sources
• How to find journal articles
• Library Catalogue search guide
• What is a scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journal?
• What is plagiarism?  Guide to common forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them

Writing help

Student Learning Commons provides assistance and numerous, helpful guides.

• Academic writing resources
• Library Catalogue search: Academic writing
  • E.g. Writing effective course assignments : a guide to non-degree and undergraduate students
• Book a consultation