Using the SFU Library

You can find a good overview of what services are available to you via the SFU Library (including finding reserves, booking study rooms, and the Student Learning Commons) on the Services for Undergraduate Students page.

Getting started is often the hardest part.  For some great tips, take a look at the Start Your Research Here page.

If you need help, please contact Hazel Plante, Liaison Librarian at 778.782.4173 or hazel_plante@sfu.ca or Ask a librarian.

Finding books

You can use the Library Catalogue to find print and online books on your topic. After doing a keyword search for books, you can click on the Subject Headings links (near the bottom of the record) to find similar materials. 

For more detailed information, see the Finding books: Library Catalogue search guide.

Finding articles

You can find journal articles by using the databases in SFU Library's collection.

Here are few brief videos created by SFU Library to show how to locate and navigate databases: 

• Finding Articles: Where to Look (2 min 29 sec)
• Finding Articles: Accessing Full Text (1 min 35 sec) 
• Finding Articles: Advanced Search Techniques (3 min 13 sec)  

Here are some specific databases that may be useful for finding scholarly articles for your assignment: 

• PubMed /MEDLINE
  A key biomedical and life sciences database
• Web of Science 
  An interdisciplinary science-centric database 
• Google Scholar
  A database that includes scholarly articles and some grey literature. Doesn't allow for useful advanced searching. Always access it via SFU Library; otherwise, you'll often be asked to pay for content. (Never pay for content! Get it through us -- for free!) 
• CINAHL Complete
  A database focused on the fields of nursing and allied health
• Global Health
  A public health database focused on international health 
• PsycINFO
  Includes articles, books, book chapters, and grey literature in the field of psychology and the psychological aspects of other disciplines, including health
• Canadian Research Index
  Canadian Government publications from federal, provincial, territorial & municipal governments, government agencies & departments, and research institutes
• Evidence Based Medicine Reviews (aka Cochrane Library)
  Searches across seven Evidence Based Medicine Review resources, including the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
• ECONLIT
  Key database for Economics journals, books, and working papers

For additional relevant databases, you may also want to see the lists of databases related to Health Policy and Public Health.  

Finding news

SFU Library's list of news databases contain several sources that should prove useful for your assignments:

• Canadian Newsstream
  Full text of nearly 300 newspapers from Canada's leading publishers, including the Globe & Mail and the National Post, as well as local papers such as the Vancouver Sun, the Province, Vancouver Courier, and the Burnaby Now. Stories are presented as HTML so images and the layout context are not preserved. 
• CBCA Complete
  Current events as covered in Canadian newspapers, newswires, newsmagazines, as well as television and radio transcripts. Includes some full text, in html and pdf files.
• PressReader
  Current issues (1-3 months) of newspapers from around the world.  Provide replica of print source so the context  (layout, illustrations) for stories is available.
• Nexis Uni
  International news coverage, strongly American with good coverage of Canadian sources & topics
• Alternative Press Index
  Indexes roughly 380 alternative, radical, and left publications.

Finding additional information

For some aspects of your project, you may not be able to find answers in books or journal articles. You may need to use grey literature (such as government and NGO reports) and other sources. The credibility of online documents can be difficult to evaluate, so SFU Library has created a guide on Finding and Evaluating Resources to make it easier to determine whether or not sources are credible.  

Here are a few resources that may be helpful for locating some of the information related to your topic:

WHO (World Health Organization)
Browse by health topic or by country. 

CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Browse by disease and condition. 

PHAC (Public Health Agency of Canada) 
Includes a section on chronic diseases. 

Keep in mind that not all information is available or findable. You may need to find similar information on your particular topic (e.g., for a different geography) and evaluate the context/culture/etc. of the information to decide whether it's relevant to your topic.    

Writing and citing 

For help with writing your assignments, check out the Student Learning Commons; they offer workshops, one-to-one consultations, and a variety of handouts on writing and study tips.

The Library has an APA citation style guide, which shows the format for citing your sources. If you have questions about research and/or citing, feel free to ask a librarian.