GSWS 101 -- Gender Talk

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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.

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 encyclopedias and handbooks

Use encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks to obtain definitions and overviews of a topic and also to identify key authors.

Create search strategies

Write down your research question in the form of a sentence and then highlight the keywords which identify the main concepts. 
Write down synonyms or related terms for each of the highlighted concept words. 

Example:

  How have employment practices been changed by the ideas of gender identity?

  • employment (jobs, work, inclusive workplace, employers, employees, jobs)
  • gender identity (gay, queer, transgender, masculinity, femininity, etc.)

(job OR jobs OR employ* OR work OR "inclusive workplace*")

AND

(women OR gender OR gay OR queer OR transgender)

AND

identity

Find articles

Scholarly journal articles and policy documents

How to find journal articles

Search for journal articles on your topic using the databases below.  From within the database, use the "Get@SFU" icon will to find copies of articles which are not full-text within the database or to initiate an inter-library loan request.. Limit search results to "academic / scholarly" articles.

Tip: Check for email, export and search history options in each database!

For more, try:  Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies databases

Newspaper or magazine articles

  • 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.
    • Search for your topic and then "limit" your search to "document type" (editorial, commentary, report, etc.)
    • NOTE: you can also limit search results to blogs, podcasts & websites
    • ("video game*" OR gaming) AND (women OR gender)
  • PressReader --  Full-text of current issues of newspapers and magazines from around the world in full-color, full-page format. Includes thousands of newspapers in over 40 languages from Canada and internationally. A rolling back file of coverage varies with each newspaper ranging from 3 days to 2 months.
    • The easiest method to search for a specific magazine within Press Reader, is to search for the magazine's name using the A-Z journals list on library's home page. Then, follow the link for Press Reader from within the Library record for the publication.
      • Examples of women's magazines: Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, Marie Claire, Style, Urban Woman, Vogue, Women's Health, Women's Weekly
      • Examples of men's magazines: Esquire, GQ, Men's Fitness, Men's Health,
      • Examples of newspapers: The Globe & Mail, The Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, Toronto Star

Find a specific journal in the library

To find a specific journal, search for the name of the journal using A to Z journals link

Selected magazines:

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)

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

Find books by subject headings

Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue.  Select "Subject" (drop-down menu), and enter term.

Find films

There are two ways to search for films, 1) use Catalogue Search and limit to "resource type" of "videos" or 2) by searching a database such as "Films on Demand Master Collection"

Catalogue Search for films

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

  • Search by keyword(s)
  • Limit by Resource Type = Audio Visual or Images

Basic search

E.g. (women OR girl* OR gender)
          Results limited to "videos"  (check the left-hand column, limit by "resource type")

Advanced search

E.g. (women OR girl* OR gender) --- Limit by "resource type" of "video"

Search a database with streaming videos

  • Films on Demand Master Academic Collection - Includes titles produced by PBS, BBC Worldwide Learning, British Pathe, HBO, Journeyman Pictures, National Geographic, and hundreds more.
    Use keywords to search for your topic
    Or, find a list by subject.  Click on the three bars (top left), and then under "Subjects", click on "view all", and then under "Sociology", see the section, "women's and gender studies"

         Use the "cite" icon to obtain the citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago) for the film.

Government reports and statistics

  • BCSTATS
  • Statistics Canada - Statistics Canada is the national statistical office. The agency ensures Canadians have the key information on Canada's economy, society and environment that they require to function effectively as citizens and decision makers.
  • UN Women
  • World Economic Forum

Find websites, social media posts or YouTube videos

Some examples of "credible" web sites would include those that are created by academic institutions, research institutes or government bodies.  These organizations may also have video channels in YouTube or other social media presence such as Twitter or Facebook.

Evaluating sources

Find a credible website

Guide: Search Tips for Google and Google Scholar

In terms of seaching, "AND" is implied so it does not need to be used to combine different concepts
Truncation symbol, asterisk (*) does NOT work, so spell out the complete word
You can limit results to URLs coming from different types of institutions (.gov, .edu) or countries (.ca, .in)
You could use types of institutions as search terms (college OR university OR institute)

Google

1. Use Google and limit search to words in the titles of publications (use "intitle:")

2. Use Google to search for web sites from United States' educational institutions (use ".edu")
Alternatively, use these search terms: college OR university OR institute

Selected websites

Find YouTube videos

Open up YouTube. Search for your topic. You can apply limits such as "4-20 mins videos"
In terms of seaching, "AND" is implied so it does not need to be used to combine different concepts
Truncation symbol, asterisk (*) does NOT work, so spell out the complete word
Use the guide Evaluating sources to make selections

Selected YouTube Channels

Blogs or zines

Search: (feminist OR feminism OR women's studies OR gender) (blogs OR zines) site:.edu

E.g. Oregon State University - Women's Centre - feminist blogs

Google search tips 

Tips:

Search tips for Google, Google Scholar, DuckDuckGo, and other search engines [guide]
Set up Google Scholar library links and button

Google's Advanced Search page

While searching the internet can find unexpected gems, be sure to evaluate the sources using the guide, "Evaluating sources"

  • Use intitle: to force Google to find those words in the titles of results.  Use quotation marks ("") to search for phrases.  With a Google search the Boolean operator "AND" is assumed, so you don't need to use it in your search strategy.
     
  • Use site: to specify results from a government web site from USA
    • intitle:"comfort women" site:gov
       
  • Search websites of different countries using the "country domain code"

E.g. Search internet domains from China (.cn) or Japan (.jp)

intitle:"comfort women" ("oral history" OR stories OR "cover up" OR apology) intitle:"comfort women"  (site:.cn OR site:.jp)

  • Use filetype: to tell Google to find certain filetypes
    • filetype:pdf

intitle:"comfort women" ("oral history" OR stories OR "cover up" OR apology) intitle:"comfort women"  (site:.cn OR site:.jp) filetype:pdf

Database

  • Google Scholar -- use the database using the Library's link to search for articles

Terminology for LGBTIQA

  • Homosaurus vocabulary (terminology) - although these terms are not used in the "Subject" list (Browse by Subject) in the SFU Catalogue Search, they may assist you when searching for information on LGBTQIA persons.

Writing an annotated bibliography

The guide provides information on writing an annotated bibliography using APA and MLA style formats.

Evaluating sources

Presentation skills

See the Student Learning Commons for expert and friendly help with academic writing, learning, and study strategies.

Library research guides

Writing help

See the Student Learning Commons for expert and friendly help with academic writing, learning, and study strategies.