SA 219: Culture, Mental Health, and Therapeutic Governance

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.

Another library guide of interest: Canadian health care policy

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. 

Find journal articles

How to find journal articles 

The first three databases (below) will provide articles from sociological and anthropological journals.   If the full-text of the article is not available, use the "Get@SFU" link to find it or to initiate an inter-library loan request.

  • Anthropology Plus - main database for Anthropological journals
    • TIPS: For articles with an "anthropological" angle, try the following search terms
      • (cultur* OR ethno* OR anthrop*) AND (mental* OR psychologi* OR depress* OR anxi* OR somat* OR medicaliz* OR psychologiz*) 
      • (cultur* OR ethno* OR anthrop*) AND (mental* OR psychologi* OR depress* OR anxi* OR somat* OR medicaliz* OR psychologiz*) AND [name of your population group]
      • DE "Cultural ethnography" AND 
      • DE "Cultural ethnography" AND (mental* OR psychologi* OR depress* OR anxi*)
      • DE "Cultural ethnography" AND (decolon* OR somatiz* OR medicaliz* OR psychologiz*)
      • DE "Cultural ethnography" AND (decolon* OR somatiz* OR medicaliz* OR psychologiz*) AND [name of your population group]
  • AnthroSource - Full-text access to journals produced by the American Anthropological Association
  • PsycINFO - The most inclusive database for research in psychology. PsycINFO Quick Guide
    • TIPS: For articles with an "anthropological" angle, try the following search terms 
      • (DE "Ethnology" OR anthropolg* OR ethnograph*) AND [your topic words limited to "subject" field]
      • (DE "Ethnology" OR anthropolg* OR ethnograph*) AND (mental OR psychological OR depress* OR anxiety)
      • (DE "Ethnology" OR anthropolg* OR ethnograph*) AND (mental OR psychological OR depress* OR anxiety) AND [name of your population group]
      • (DE "Ethnology" OR anthropolg* OR ethnograph*) AND 
      •  
  • Global Health  - Provides information on international health, biomedical life sciences, non-communicable diseases, public health nutrition, food safety and hygiene, and much more from around the world
  • MEDLINE / PubMed - biomedical and health literature, covering research, clinical practice, administration, policy issues, and health care services
    • TIPS: For articles with an "anthropological" angle, try the following search terms 
      • [your topic word] AND DE
      • [your topic word] AND DE "Anxiety Disorders/ethnology"
      • [your topic word] AND DE "Attitude to Health/*ethnology"
      • [your topic word] AND DE "Depressive Disorder/*ethnology"
      • [your topic word] AND DE "Depression/*ethnology"
      • [your topic word] AND DE "Hypochondriasis/ethnology"
      • [your topic word] AND DE "Mental Disorders/*ethnology"
      • [your topic word] AND DE "Somatoform Disorders/*ethnology"
      • [name of your population group] AND [any of the above descriptor terms]
      •  
  • CINAHL Complete - database focused on nursing and allied health
  • Sociological Abstracts - includes anthropological and sociological journals
  • Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America
    "citations for books, essays, journal articles, and government documents on all aspects of Native North American culture, history, and life" (note: Subject term Native Americans sometimes used for Canada, as well as First Nations)
  • Women's Studies International

For additional information on health issues, try: Global Health list of databases

Selected journals

Medical journals

- It may be helpful to search directly within the search engines of these journals

Find books in the Library

Library Catalogue search guide 

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

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

Use pull-down menu and select, "Source Types" as "Books"

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

When you find a useful book, click on its "subject" to find more books on the same topic

Selected books

Browse Books Using Subject Headings

Catalogue Search / Browse then change "Title" to "Subject" and enter your subject term

Also try the names of specific countries as "sub-heading"

Government documents and statistics

Canada

Library guides

Presentation skills

Writing help

Student Learning Commons provides assistance and numerous, helpful guides.