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Contact info
For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies by email (moninder_lalli@sfu.ca) or Ask a librarian.
Another library guide which may be helpful is Indigenous Studies.
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 encyclopedias
Use encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks to obtain definitions and overviews of a topic and also to identify key authors.
- Canadian Encyclopedia: Indigenous Peoples. Examples of entries include: Idle No More, Indigenous Women's Issues in Canada, and The White Paper, 1969.
- Encyclopedia of British Columbia -- under subjects look for articles titled: "First Nations of BC", "Art, Northwest Coast Aboriginal"; under index look for articles on " aboriginal demography", "aboriginal rights", "First Nations Languages", or names of individual groups, e.g. Bella Coola First Nation, Haida, etc. [online or print]
- Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples
- Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies
- Sage eReference -- over 40 encyclopedias
Find journal articles, magazines and news stories
Search for journal articles on your topic using the databases below. From within the database, use the "Get@SFU" link to find it or to initiate an inter-library loan request. Limit search results to "academic / scholarly" articles.
- Women's Studies International -- Main database for GSWS topics. Generally, start with this database and then search other databases.
- Bibliography of Native North Americans - articles in scholarly journals and magazines
- Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. Useful for film and television research
- Communication and Mass Media Complete - Important database for "popular culture" and "media" topics.
- Academic Search Premier -- (multidisciplinary) covers many GSWS journals in full text.Limit your search results to "Academic" or "Scholarly" sources.
- MLA International Bibliography Citations to scholarly literature in linguistics, modern languages, folklore, literary theory & criticism, and dramatic arts; historical aspects of printing and publishing, rhetoric and composition; and, the theory and practice of teaching language and literature.
- Search: DE "Canadian literature" AND "Native American writers"
- CBCA Complete -- Canadian Business & Current Affairs (CBCA) Complete. Limit your search results to "Academic" or "Scholarly" sources.
- Canadian Electronic Library from desLibris - full text of public policy documents
- Canadian Newsstream -- Full text access to major Canadian daily newspapers (such as the Globe and Mail, National Post, The Gazette (Montreal), and Vancouver Sun) as well as small market newspapers and weeklies published in Canada.
- Google Scholar -- use the database through the Library to search for fulltext of articles
Selected articles
- The Kenyon Review (Vol. 32 no. 1, 2010, pp. 1-265)
- Ortiz, Simon. “[North American Indigenous Authors: Special Issue].” The Kenyon Review, vol. 32, no. 1, 2010, pp. 1–265. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2010381699&site=ehost-live.
- English Studies in Canada (Vol. 43, no. 2-3, pp. 69-90)
- Hanson, Aubrey Jean. “Reading for Reconciliation? Indigenous Literatures in a Post-TRC Canada.” English Studies in Canada, vol. 43, no. 2–3, June 2017, pp. 69–90. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2018701336&site=ehost-live.
- Native writers and Canadian writing : Canadian literature special issue [1990]
Find books
Library Catalogue search guide
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."
Search the SFU Library Catalogue, either the Basic or the Advanced search
For known items it is best to check using "Browse by title"
Note: In the searches below, you can limit search results to "Online Resources only" and "Resource type" of "Books". You can further limit by using "Subject" (left-hand column)
- ("First Nations" OR aborigin* OR native* OR indigen*) AND (author* OR fiction* OR literature* OR film* OR stories) AND (Canad* OR British Columbia OR Ontario OR Manitoba OR Saskatchewan OR Alberta)
- ("Two-spirit" OR Indigiqueer) AND Canad*
- "Qwo-Li Driskill"
Proper syntax for Boolean logic (words that allow you to combine concepts)
Combine different concepts using AND
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
Course readings
- Jonny Appleseed [print]
- Monkey Beach [print]
- nîtisânak [print]
- Two-Spirit Acts: Queer Indigenous Performances [print]
Other
- (Ad)dressing our words : aboriginal perspectives on aboriginal literatures [print]
- A Gathering of spirit : a collection by North American Indian women
- A Future Perfect: Queer Digital Sovereignty in Joshua Whitehead’s Jonny Appleseed and full-metal Indigiqueer
- A Gathering of spirit : a collection by North American Indian women [print]
- A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder
- First Voices: An Aboriginal Women's Reader
- Indigenous women's voices : 20 years on from Linda Tuhiwai Smith's decolonizing methodologies
- Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada
- Kisiskâciwan : Indigenous voices from where the river flows swiftly [print]
- Learn, Teach, Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures [print]
- Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction
- Love beyond body, space, and time : an Indigenous LGBT sci-fi anthology [print, curriculum collection]
- Queer Indigenous Studies [print]
- Read, listen, tell : indigenous stories from Turtle Island
- Self-Determined Stories: The Indigenous Reinvention of Young Adult Literature
- Violence Against Indigenous Women: Literature, Activism, Resistance
- Why Indigenous Literatures Matter
Find books by author
Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue. Select "Author" (drop-down menu), and enter name (format: last name, first name).
Find books by subject headings
Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue. Select "Subject" (drop-down menu), and enter term.
- Name of specific person for biographical and critical material about that person.
- American literature -- Indian authors
- Canadian literature -- Indian authors
- Cree Indians -- Fiction
- First Nations -- Fiction
- Indians of North America -- Canada -- Biography
- Indigenous authors
- Indigenous authors -- Canada
- Indigenous -- Films
Evaluating sources
Library research guides
- Annotated bibliographies
- Library Research Tutorials. Animated tutorials on search techniques for finding books and journal articles.
- Developing a topic [video]
- What is a scholarly journal? [guide]
- Library Catalogue search guide
- Finding articles: Advanced search techniques [video]
- Moving from citation to article: Find the full text of an article from the article citation [guide]
- How to place an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request
- Search tips for Google and Google Scholar
- Understanding and avoiding plagiarism [interactive tutorial]
- Where can I get this? Citation finder [tool]
- More Tutorials
Writing help
See the Student Learning Commons for expert and friendly help with academic writing, learning, and study strategies.