GSWS 411 / URB 695: Women and Cities

Contact info

For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies moninder_lalli@sfu.ca or Nina Smart (nina_smart@sfu.ca), Librarian for Urban Studies, or Ask a librarian.

Other relevant library research guides: Urban Housing Policy URB 665, Urban Research Methods URB 670, Urban Bylaws, Public Policy, Legislation and Planning Resources

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 reference sources

      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. You can "limit" your search to "academic or "scholarly / peer reviewed" journals.
      Use the "Get@SFU" icon will to find copies of articles which are not full-text within the database or to request the article through Inter-Library Loans.

      • Women's Studies International - main database for any gender, women's studies or feminist topics
      • Sociological Abstracts - main database for sociological literature
      • GEOBASE  - main database for human geography. The scope is international, dating back to 1980
      • Social Sciences Full Text  Coverage of both applied and theoretical aspects of the Social Sciences, including Gender Studies, Geography, Planning & Public Administration, Policy Sciences, Political Science, etc.
      • Environment Complete Urban planning, public policy 
      • CBCA Fulltext Reference - Covers Canadian topics including business, politics, literature, history and news event

      Find books, book chapters, journal articles

      The Library Catalogue provides access to books, journal articles, videos, government documents and much more. 

      Library Catalogue search guide

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

      Note: In the searches below, search results can be been limited to "Resource type" of "Books" and "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

      Subject headings

      Browse Books in the Library Catalogue Using Subject Headings

      Catalogue Search / Browse then change "Title" to "Subject" and enter your subject term.   To find critical or biographical material about a person, enter the last name, and then the first name.

      Government information

      Library guides

      Presentation skills

      Writing help