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Contact info
For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies by email () or Ask a librarian.
Other library guides which may be helpful: Violence Against Women and Children, Indigenous Studies, Sociology and Intercultural Communication, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training Guide
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.
- Ashgate research companion to queer theory
- Canadian Encyclopedia: Indigenous Peoples. Examples of entries include: Idle No More, Indigenous Women's Issues in Canada, and The White Paper, 1969.
- Encyclopedia of British Columbia -- under subjects look for articles titled: "First Nations of BC", "Art, Northwest Coast Aboriginal"; under index look for articles on " aboriginal demography", "aboriginal rights", "First Nations Languages", or names of individual groups, e.g. Bella Coola First Nation, Haida, etc. [online or print]
- Encyclopedia of feminist theories
- Encyclopedia of gender in media
- Encyclopedia of race and racism
- Global encyclopedia of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) history
- Oxford handbook of global LGBT and sexual diversity politics
- Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality
- Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies
- Routledge handbook of indigenous wellbeing
- Routledge history of sex and the body : 1500 to the present
- Routledge Handbook of Sexuality Studies in East Asia
- Routledge international handbook of colorism
- Routledge International Handbook of Race, Class and Gender
- Routledge international handbook of contemporary racisms
- Routledge international handbook of Islamophobia
- Sage encyclopedia of LGBTQ studies
- Social media : a reference handbook
- Transgender : a Reference Handbook
For more, try the side-tab, Background information
Find journal articles and news
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. Limit search results to "academic / scholarly" articles.
- Women's Studies International -- Main database for GSWS topics. Generally, start with this database and then search other databases.
- Academic Search Premier -- Multidisciplinary. Limit your search results to "Academic" or "Scholarly" sources.
- ProQuest Sociology Collection - for issues related to class, gender, racism, sexuality and sexism and theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science.
- Social Sciences Full Text - similar to Sociological Abstracts, it indexes social sciences journals
- ATLA Religion Database. World religions, church history, and religion in social issues.
- Bibliography of Asian Studies -- scholarly articles
- Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America - articles in scholarly journals and magazines
- Communication and Mass Media Complete - Important database for "popular culture", "social media" and "mass media" topics
- CBCA Complete -- Canadian Business & Current Affairs (CBCA) Complete. Limit your search results to "Academic" or "Scholarly" sources.
- Business Source Complete - for academic or practitioner articles related workplace.
- Google Scholar -- use the database through the Library to search for fulltext of articles. For better search results, consult the guide, Search tips for Google and Google Scholar
- Search for your "key" article. Check the link "cited by" right beneath the reference to that article
News
- Canadian Newsstream
Full text of the Province (1989-current, delayed 1 day), Vancouver Sun (1987-current, delayed 1 day), and the Times Colonist (Victoria) (1993-current, delayed 1 day) and many BC weeklies (most from 2000-current), as well as many major papers across Canada such as the Globe & Mail (1977-current, no delay). - Nexis Uni
Indexes newspapers from around the world, in English and other languages. Includes transcripts from the major television and radio networks.
Guides:
Find a specific journal
Use the link for A - Z journals list, to search for the name of the journal
E.g. for the citation below, search for "GLQ a journal of lesbian and gay studies" and then follow the links to search for the correct year and volume number to find the article.
Driskill, Q.-L. (2010). Doubleweaving Two-Spirit Critiques: Building Alliances between Native and Queer Studies. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 16(1–2), 69–9
Selected journals
- Indian journal of gender studies
- Journal of gender, race & justice
- Journal of gender studies
- Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement
- Media, culture, and society
- Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture
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"Resource types" of "Books" and "Book chapters. You can further limit by using "Subject" (left-hand column)
Sample search strategies:
- "queer theory" AND (heteronormative OR homonormative) AND (black OR indigen* OR two-spirit OR "people of color" OR "scholar* of color" OR feminis*)
- podcast* AND (critique* OR critic* OR analy*)
- "critical race" AND theor* AND (sex* OR gender OR queer* OR gay* OR lesbian* OR lgbt*)
- queer* AND decolon* AND (black OR indigen* OR two-spirit OR "people of color" OR "scholar* of color" OR feminis*)
- (norms OR equality OR parity OR disparit* OR inequality OR equit* OR inequit* OR "pay gap*" OR "gender gap*") AND (feminiz* OR feminis* OR "service industry")
- ("social media" OR facebook OR twitter OR instagram) AND (youth OR adolescent* OR "young people" OR boys OR girls)
- ("Two-spirit" OR Indigiqueer) AND Canad*
- (LGBT* OR queer OR gay OR lesbian* OR transgender* OR hijra*) AND India
- "intimate partner violence" OR OPV OR "wife abuse" OR "spousal abuse" OR "wife batter*") AND femini* AND theor*
- (race* OR Raci*) AND (sex work OR prostitut* OR commercial sex)
- (sex work OR prostitut* OR commercial sex) AND (indigen* OR aborig* OR native*) AND (canad* OR BC OR vancouver OR DTES)
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
Readings
- An Introduction to the Health of Two-Spirit People : Historical, Contemporary and Emergent Issues
- As we have always done : indigenous freedom through radical resistance [print]
- Butch Queens Up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit
- Disidentifications: Queers of color and the performance of politics [print]
- Disrupting queer inclusion : Canadian homonationalisms and the politics of belonging
- Hijras, Lovers, Brothers : Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India [print]
- Queer phenomenology orientations, objects, others [print]
Other
- A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder
- Algorithms of Oppression : How Search Engines Reinforce Racism [print]
- Blackwashing Homophobia: Violence and the Politics of Sexuality, Gender and Race
- Criminal love? : queer theory, culture, and politics in India
- Critical Race Theory (Third Edition): An Introduction
- Critically Sovereign: Indigenous Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies
- Crossroads, Directions and A New Critical Race Theory : And A New Critical Race Theory
- Cruising utopia : the then and there of queer futurity
- Earnings Inequality and the Gender Pay Gap in Canada : The Role of Women’s Under-Representation Among
- Economic woman : gendering inequality in the age of capital
- Feelings and Work in Modern History: Emotional Labour and Emotions about Labour
- First Voices: An Aboriginal Women's Reader
- Gaming representation : race, gender, and sexuality in video games [print]
- Gender Diversity and LGBTQ Inclusion in K-12 Schools: A Guide to Supporting Students, Changing Lives
- Gender norms and intersectionality : connecting race, class & gender
- Gender, Sexuality and Race in the Digital Age
- Hegemony and heteronormativity : revisiting 'the political' in queer politics
- Imagining queer methods
- Inequality : classic readings in race, class, and gender
- Intersectional tech : Black users in digital gaming
- Just Relationships: Living Out Social Justice as Mentor, Family, Friend, and Lover
- Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction
- Navigating gender and sexuality in the classroom : narrative insights from students and educators
- Normed children : effects of gender and sex related normativity on childhood and adolescence
- Plugged In: How Media Attract and Affect Youth
- Queer Indigenous Studies [print]
- Queerness in Play
- Queer Progress: From Homophobia to Homonationalism
- Queering India: same-sex love and eroticism in Indian culture and society [print]
- Race and racialization : essential readings [print]
- Red Light Labour : Sex Work Regulation, Agency, and Resistance
- Sex Work and Hate Crime: Innovating Policy, Practice and Theory
- Sexuality, abjection and queer existence in contemporary India
- Social exclusion, power and video game play new research in digital media and technology [print]
- Social media : a critical introduction
- Socially networked lives: How adolescents and young adults engage with social media
- Street sex work and Canadian cities : resisting a dangerous order
- Technically wrong : sexist apps, biased algorithms, and other threats of toxic tech [print]
- That's so gay! : microaggressions and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community
- Theories of Race and Ethnicity: Contemporary Debates and Perspectives
- Trafficking and sex work : gender, race and public order
- Transfeminist Perspectives in and beyond Transgender and Gender Studies
- Urban indigenous youth reframing two-spirit
- Violence Against Indigenous Women: Literature, Activism, Resistance
Find books by author
Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue. Select "Author" (drop-down menu), and enter name (format: last name, first name).
Find books by subject
Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue. Select "Subject" (drop-down menu), and change "title" to "subject"
Search for the name of a specific person for biographical and critical material about that person
- Aboriginal women - Canada
- Ethnic gays
- Feminist theory -- Cross cultural studies
- Feminist Theory -- Developing Countries
- Gay Rights -- Canada
- Homophobia
- Indigenous Women - Canada
- Intergenerational communication
- Interpersonal communication
- Mass media and culture
- Mass media and minorities
- Motherhood
- Parenting
- Parenting -- Cross-cultural studies
- Prostitutes - Canada
- Prostitution -- Canada
- Queer theory
- Race in mass media
- Racism -- Canada
- Sex discrimination against women
- Sociology of family, youth and aging
- Video games -- Social aspects
- Women in mass media.
- Women in popular culture
Selected websites
- DTES Research Access Portal - is led by the Making Research Accessible initiative (MRAi) makes resources relevant to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) more accessible and easier to discover. We provide access to academic materials such as scholarly articles and theses, as well as community materials such as reports, historical newsletters and more accessible forms of scholarship such as clear research summaries, and more. [from the website]
- Search engine
- Topics
- Feminist Theory Website - "provides research materials" - fields within feminism; national and ethnic feminisms; Individual feminists
- Network to Eliminate Violence in Relationships (NEVR)
- Gurm, B., Salgado, G., Marchbank, J., & Early, S. D. (2020). Making Sense of a Global Pandemic: Relationship Violence & Working Together Towards a Violence Free Society. Kwantlen Polytechnic University: Surrey, BC. Ebook ISBN 978-1-989864-14-2 or Print ISBN 978-1-989864-13-5. https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/nevr/
All about podcasting
Publish your podcast at SFU's Media site
Mediasite – https://stream.sfu.ca/
- Library stack - Library Stack is a growing collection of born-digital media: ebooks, audio files, videos, apps, and documents provided by artists, designers, critics, theorists, and philosophers. Contents includes PDF zines made by curators, downloadable exhibitions curated by artists, experimental sound compositions, magazines about experimental sound art, fonts channeling cultural histories, and political artworks in the form of custom browser extensions.
- "All format" -> "audio" -> "podcasts"
- "All format" -> "publications" -> "interviews"
- "All subjects" -> "social theory" -> "feminist theory"
- Keyword search: [your topic words]
Google search for podcasts
Google
Google's Advanced Search page
Search results limited to words in the title of document, using "intitle:". Use capital "OR" for synonyms. Put braces "()" around words that mean the same thing. For more tips, see: Search Tips for Google and Google Scholar
Search: podcast (learn OR how to OR tutorial)
Search: racism podcast
Learn how to podcast
Selected books on podcasting:
- Podcast solutions : the complete guide to podcasting [2005]
- Podcasting [2021]
- Storytelling in Radio and Podcasts: A Practical Guide - "a practical guide to creating narratives in audio media"
For more, try searching the books listed under the Subject Heading: Podcasting
Make podcasts
- SFU Library's Media and Maker Commons (recording studio & equipment)
"We offer online training through Canvas to teach you the minimum skills required to operate the Audio Studio System. After this online training, you can also do some hands-on training with a member of our staff. In that training, you will review basic principles and gain troubleshooting experience to avoid common recording failures.
To schedule the Audio Studio, use the Library's booking service website. Time slots are available in 30 minute intervals, with a maximum booking of two hours. If you need additional Audio Studio time, please email the MMC staff....The Audio Studio has easy-to-use equipment specifically designed for creating podcasts and recording interviews. "
- SFU Centre for Educational Excellence (CEE) - Open Educational Media Resources
For recording tips, information on how to use Audacity and more. Provides links to copyright free audio resources.
Educational Audio - resources on producing podcasts
- Wilfrid Laurier University's resources on podcasting
- NPR Training Portal - Audio
Resources on podcasts.
- NPR Training Portal - Audio
Editing sound
- Audacity (open access software for editing sound)
Presentation skills
Library research guides
- Annotated bibliographies
- Library Research Tutorials. Animated tutorials on search techniques for finding books and journal articles.
- Developing a topic [video]
- What is a scholarly journal? [guide]
- Library Catalogue search guide
- Finding articles: Advanced search techniques [video]
- Evaluating sources
- Moving from citation to article: Find the full text of an article from the article citation [guide]
- How to place an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request
- Search tips for Google and Google Scholar
- Understanding and avoiding plagiarism [interactive tutorial]
- Where can I get this? Citation finder [tool]
- More Tutorials
Writing help
See the Student Learning Commons for expert and friendly help with academic writing, learning, and study strategies.