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Contact info
For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Labour Studies by email or Ask a librarian.
Essay
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.
Background information
Use encyclopedias and handbooks to obtain an overview of a topic and to identify key authors and resources on a topic.
- Handbook of Migration and Globalisation
- Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
- Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism
- Research handbook on the law and politics of migration
- Routledge Handbook of Migration and Development
- Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies
- Routledge handbook of immigration and refugee studies
- Routledge international handbook of globalization studies
- Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies
- Sage handbook of neoliberalism
- Thinking globally : a global studies reader
- Sage eReference
Journal articles
For journal articles, it is useful to search within the databases for the discipline for which your are writing your essay. It is a great way to find the current theories and critical debates.
If the articles are not be available full-text, then use the "Get@SFU" icon to see if the Library has the journal. For journals not owned by the Library, use the Citation Finder/ILL tab to request a copy of the article from another library (free).
For additional help, refer to the How to find journal articles, What is a scholarly journal? [guide], Finding articles: Advanced search techniques [video 3:13 mins]
Databases
The following databases are useful for finding journal articles which provide a social sciences perspective on international labour migration. If the
- Sociological Abstracts - Sociology discipline studies migration, refugees, societal structures, immigrants
- Social Sciences Full Text Covers social science journals
- EconLit - indexes economics journals, including labour
-
GEOBASE "Human geography" discipline studies issues related to "refugees" and "migration"
- Political Science Complete - scholarly articles related to labour, migration, unions, policies and remittances
- Women's Studies International for any issues related to gender, sexuality and women's studies
Two databases (below) may be useful for finding the business perspective on labour, working conditions, and unions.
- Business Source Complete
- For country profiles, choose "country profile" box, and in keyword search box, enter your terms: France
- Use "thesaurus" for subject specific term: e.g. when you look up labor unions, you could choose descriptor words that will make your searches more relevant:
- DE "LABOR unions & international relations"
- DE "LABOR unions & international relations"
- CBCA Complete Canadian Business & Current Affairs
For more databases, see Labour Studies Databases
Selected journals
Below are selected scholarly journals with articles on international labour. When you wish to search for articles on your research topic, start by using the databases listed above. Each of the databases (above) will index different sets of journals.
Find books in the Library
Library Catalogue search guide
Search the SFU Library Catalogue: Advanced keyword
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")
Write your research question and identify your "key concepts."
- globaliz* AND (labor OR labour) AND (covid OR pandemic OR disease* OR contagion*)
- immigr* AND (policy OR policies) AND canad*
- "migrant worker*" AND (transnat* OR global*)
- "migrant worker*" AND (transnat* OR global*) AND (policy OR policies)
- ("migrant work*" or "migrant labor") AND (gender or race or class)
- international AND "migrant labor"
- "labour migrat*" AND (international OR global* OR transborder OR transnational)
- remitt* AND (poverty OR inequality)
In the search results, for the books that look relevant, click on their "Subject" to find more books on the same topic.
Selected books
- Admitted but excluded : removing occupational barriers to entry for immigrants to Canada
- Canada’s Colour Coded Income Inequality
- COVID-19 and the Canadian Workforce : Reforming EI to Protect More Workers
- Contemporary work and the future of employment in developed countries
- Immigration and the Politics of Welfare Exclusion: Selective Solidarity in Western Democracies
- Immigration Canada: Evolving Realities and Emerging Challenges in a Postnational World
- Making Critical Sense of Immigrant Experience: A Case Study of Hong Kong Chinese in Canada
Browse by subject
Catalogue Search / Browse, then change "Title" to "Subject" and enter:
- Canada - Race relations
- Foreign workers -- Canada
- Foreign Workers -- Canada -- Social Conditions
- Immigrant Women
- Immigrants
- Immigrants employment
- Labor
- Labor -- [country or region]
- Labor -- Canada
- Labor -- China
- Labor and globalization
- Migration
- Migrant labor
- Race discrimination Canada
- Refugees Canada
- Transnational migration
- Transnationalism
- Women foreign workers
- Women household employees
Statistics
Canadian statistics
- Statistics Canada - the major statistical gathering agency of the federal government. It publishes the "whole range of statistics on the economic and social activities of the Canadian people". There are daily, weekly, quarterly, annual and irregular publications. They also publishes the Census of Canada at five year intervals.
- Labour
- how many people are employed or unemployed; the unemployment rate; which industries or occupations people work in;
- the hours they work; commuting patterns; wage and non-wage benefits; job training; labour mobility;
- work absences; unionization; unpaid work; and other topics. Also includes geographic and demographic characteristics.
- Labour Force Survey
- a monthly survey which measures the current state of the Canadian labour market and is used, among other things, to calculate the national, provincial, territorial and regional employment.
- Labour
British Columbia
BC Statistics Check out the tabs at the top
Citing Government documents, Canadian -- APA style | MLA style | Chicago style
Statista A statistics portal that integrates statistics from thousands of sources and provides simple exports of both data and charts in multiple formats.
United States
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics: Employment, Earnings, Prices, Productivity, and Other Labor Data , 9th ed. - publication based on Bureau of Labor Statistics information, and gathered from various sources
International
- Europa World - provides information on a variety of international organizations as well as highlights detailed information on every country in the world. Europa World is designed so that you can easily browse or search for anything from country statistics to business, educational, political or cultural references.
- Inter-Agency On Migration (IOM)
- International Labour Organizatin (ILO)
- Look at tab, "Topics"
- Standards and Fundamental Principles and rights at work
-
undata Provides selected series from 30 specialized international data sources for all available countries and areas.
- Search results for keywords:
-
Statistics
- SourceOECD .
- Choose: Statistics
- Choose: Trade Unions --> Employment and Labour Market Statistics
- E.g. Union Members and Employees (international comparison chart)
- Choose: Trade Unions --> Employment and Labour Market Statistics
- Choose: Statistics
- SourceOECD .
Websites
Search Tips for Google and Google Scholar for using the Google or Google Scholar search engines
Find material from government sites
Use site:gov to find sources from government websites. Use quotation marks ("") to search for phrases (words next to each other)
"Airport security” site:gov
"transnational migration" site:gov
"temporary foreign workers" site:gov
Find material from university or educational sites
Use site:edu to find sources from educational institutions' websites
site:edu
"temporary foreign workers" site:edu
Organizations
Canada
International
-
International Labour Organization (ILO)
- International Labour Organization. ILO Minimum Estimate of Forced Labour in the World. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO, 2012.
- Labour Migration
- International Organization for Migration (IMO)
Guides and tutorials
- What is plagiarism? [guide]
- Understanding and avoiding plagiarism [interactive tutorial]
- How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
- Internet research: Finding and evaluating resources
- Search Tips for Google and Google Scholar
- Research Tutorials
- Library Research Skills [interactive tutorial]
- What is a scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journal?
- Research concepts worksheet [guide]
Search tips and techniques
- Use "or" to combine same concept
- Use "and" to combine different concepts
- Use "quotation marks" to search for an exact phrase
- Use asterisk (*) the truncation symbol, for variation on endings of words (work* will find: work, works, worker, working, workforce, etc.)
- For Abbreviations, also use full names: ILO or "international labour organization"
- Search Tips for Google and Google Scholar
- Use intitle: to force Google to find those words in the titles of results. Use quotation marks ("") to search for phrases
- intitle:"airport security"
- intitle:"airport security"
- Use filetype: to tell Google to find certain filetypes
- filetype:pdf
- filetype:pdf
- Use site: to specify results from a government web site
- "Airport security” site:gov
- Use intitle: to force Google to find those words in the titles of results. Use quotation marks ("") to search for phrases