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Contact info
For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Sociology / Anthropology by email () 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.
Specialized Library guides
- Finding Ethnographies
- How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
- Library Research Tutorials Animated tutorials on search techniques for finding books and journal articles
- Academic Writing: What is a Literature Review?
- Examples of literature reviews may be found in the following two annual publications:
- Research methods for Anthropology and Sociology
Selected encyclopedias and handbooks
- Encyclopedia of anthropology [print or online]
- Handbook of ethnography
- Social and cultural anthropology: the key concepts [print and online]
- Routledge companion to digital ethnography
Find books
Library Catalogue search guide | Catalogue search tips
Search the SFU Library Catalogue: Advanced keyword
- ethnograph* AND (method* OR research OR analysis)
- (ethnogra* OR ethnolog*) AND (research method*)
- qualitative research
- reflexive* AND (research OR method*)
- (ethnograph* OR ethnolog*) AND (virtual OR hypermedia OR "second life" OR cyberspace OR "digital world")
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")
Look at the titles in the "results list" and for those books that look relevant, click on their subject headings.
Selected books
- 30 essential skills for the qualitative researcher [print]
- Analyzing qualitative data
- Designing qualitative research
- Developing a critical ethnographic method : positionality, ontology and analysis
- Decolonizing ethnography : undocumented immigrants and new directions in social science
- How to read ethnography
- Qualitative data collection tools : design, development, and applications
- Reading ethnographic research : a critical guide
- Video ethnography
Browse by subject
To search for books by subject heading, use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue, then select Subject browse from the drop-down menu
Change "Title" to "Subject" and enter:
- Anthropology -- History
- Culture -- Research -- Methodology
- Ethnology -- Fieldwork
- Ethnology -- Methodology
- Ethnology -- Philosophy
- Ethnology -- Research
- Focus Groups
- Qualitative research -- Methodology
- Social sciences -- Field work
- Social sciences -- Methodology
- Social sciences -- Research -- Methodology
For more ideas, try the Library guide: Research methods for Anthropology and Sociology
Find journal articles in databases
For help, refer to the How to find journal articles Library guide
If fulltext of article is not within the database, click on the "Get@SFU" to start a search for it. If the Library doesnot provide access, then use the Citation Finder/ILL tab to request a copy from another library (free).
- Anthropology Plus - material relating to anthropology and archaeology. Unites Harvard's Anthropological Literature and the Royal Anthropological Institute's Anthropological Index Online
- AnthroSource - Full-text access to journals produced by the American Anthropological Association
- Sociological Abstracts: Sociological aspects of twenty-nine broad topics, including anthropology, business, collective behaviour, community development, disaster studies, education, environmental studies, gender studies, gerontology, law and penology, marriage and family studies, medicine and health, racial interactions, social psychology, social work, sociological theory, stratification, substance abuse, urban studies, and violence.
- Ageline for all aspects of "ageing" including eldercare, grandparents
- Sage Research Methods Online
- Access to research methods from books and numerous reference sources.