Contact info

For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for South Asian Initiativesmoninder_lalli@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian.

See also: GA 101: Introduction to Global Asia

Research process

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 dictionaries and encyclopedias

Find journal articles

Different databases provide access to journals from different disciplines and they easily let you easily to search for articles on your topic. If the full-text of the article is not available within the database then use the "Get@SFU" link to find it or to initiate an inter-library loan request.

Sociological and historical

ProQuest Sociology Collection - for issues related to migration, class, gender, racism, sexuality and sexism and theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science. Also searches Sociological Abstracts.
GEOBASE - for human geography, labour, migration, refugees, etc.
Bibliography of Asian Studies
Periodicals, individually authored monographs (published 1971 to 1992 only), chapters in edited volumes, conference proceedings, anthologies, and Festschriften on East, Southeast, and South Asia
America: History and Life
Literature on all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture and current affairs from prehistory to present. Access is limited to 6 users at a time. Users will be automatically logged out of the database after 12 minutes of inactivity.
Historical Abstracts
Abstracts of journal articles, book reviews, dissertations on the history of the world outside, excluding Canada and the United States, since 1450. Access is limited to 6 users at a time. Users will be automatically logged out of the database after 12 minutes of inactivity

Literature, film and popular culture

Communication and Mass Media Complete - Important database for "popular culture", "social media" and "mass media" topics
Film & Television Literature Index - International index to scholarly and popular journal literature on film, television and video
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.

Find books, book chapters, journal articles

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

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 pulldown menu and select, "Source Types" as "Books"

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