GSWS 316: Disciplining Sex - Feminist Science Studies and Sociobiology

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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.

Find journal articles

How to find journal articles

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.

  • Women's Studies International  - for issues related to gender, sexuality and women's studies
    • Try searches, such as: 
      • feminis* AND "science fiction"
      • DE "FEMINIST science fiction"
         
  • Sociological Abstracts - for social issues.
    • Try searches, such as: 
      • feminis* AND "science fiction"
         
  • 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.
    • To find feminist science fiction authors", try searches, such as: 
      • feminis* AND "science fiction"
      • DE "feminist women novelists" AND "science fiction"

See also, Find feminist science fiction books

Find books

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

Note: In the searches below, search results have been limited to "Online Resources only" and "Resource type" of "Books" or "book chapters". You can further limit by using "Subject" (left-hand column)

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")

If you have found one book that is particularly relevant to your research, but need more, search that book in the library catalogue and use the subject headings associated with that book!

 

Selected books

Browse search

Browse by author

Catalogue Search / Browse then change "Title" to "Author" and then enter Author's Last name and then the First Name

Browse by subject

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

Assignment: Pandemic response

Below are some databases that will provide indexing and/or full text of articles in newspapers and news magazines.

Try searches such as:

  • (Covid-19 OR Coronavirus) AND (inequal* OR unequal OR race OR racial OR gender OR minorit*) AND (impact* OR affect*)
  • (Covid-19 OR Coronavirus) AND [name of a group]

Databases

  • Academic Search Premier  Multidisciplinary index to academic & popular journals.
  • 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.
  • CBCA Complete  Comprehensive Canadian periodical collection for reference and current events. Publications include scholarly journal articles, trade publications, dissertations, books, newspapers and magazines. Includes indexing for MacLeans.
  • Nexis Uni  International news coverage, business news, legal cases and law reports from early 1970's to present. Content is strongly American with significant coverage of Canadian and international topics. Formerly LexisNexis Academic.
  • PressReader  Full-text of current issues of newspapers 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.

Searching using Google

Search Tips for Google and Google Scholar

Search results limited to words in the title of document, using "intitle:".  Use capital "OR" for synonyms. Put braces "(__ OR__ )" around words with the same meaning (synonyms). "AND" is assumed by Google so you don't need to include it in your search strategy.

E.g.

(covid-19 OR coronavirus OR pandemic) (race OR racial OR ethnic* OR class OR gender OR "visible minorit*")

Refine your searches

Search for documents from a particular country's domain.  Web country codes

Assignment: Feminist science fiction

For journal articles, try the MLA International Bibliography to find articles on feminist science fiction authors.

The resources, below, will help you identify science fiction writers.  

Chapter

Browse by author (books by your author)

Catalogue Search / Browse then change "Title" to "Author" and then enter Author's Last name and then the First Name

Browse by subject (books about your author or a topic)

Catalogue Search / Browse  Change "Title" to "Subject." 
To find books about an author, enter Last name and then the First Name

Search your local public library for science fiction novels

Please check your local public library to check if an electronic copy of a novel is available.  SFU usually buys print copies of novels and the print collection is unavailable, at present.  To borrow a book from the public library in your area you will need to obtain a library card from that library.

Use their search engine to search for books by your chosen author.

Some local public library catalogues

E.g.

Surrey Public Library Catalogue Advanced Search

  Author search in Catalogue

For a more complete list of public libraries, try Public Libraries in the Lower Mainland

Presentation skills and writing help

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

Library guides