Contact info

For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Sociology / Anthropology 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 and handbooks to obtain an overview of a topic and to identify key authors and resources on a topic. Articles sometimes have maps and statistics.

• Handbook of contemporary China
• Handbook of protest and resistance in China
• Handbook on ethnic minorities in China
• Handbook on human rights in China
• Handbook on Class and Social Stratification in China
• Routledge handbook of Chinese studies
• Routledge handbook of revolutionary China
• Routledge handbook of the belt and road

Find journal articles

Searching the "Databases for a discipline" is a great strategy to view articles that have been written within the scholarly journals of that discipline.  For help, refer to the How to find journal articles, What is a scholarly journal?, and Finding articles: Advanced search techniques [video 3:13 mins]

If full-text of article is not available from within the database, click on the "Get@SFU" to start a search.  If the Library does not provide access, then use the Citation Finder/ILL tab to request a copy from another library (free) through SFU Library's Inter-Library Loans (ILL) service.

• Anthropology Plus - Key database for Anthropological journal articles.
• Sociological Abstracts  Key database for sociology and anthropology journals.
• Social Sciences Full Text
• Project MUSE Search  - Current humanities and social sciences peer-reviewed academic journals and ebooks from university presses and scholarly societies world-wide.
• JSTOR  Searchable, archival collection (not current 5 to 7 years) of core scholarly arts, humanities and social sciences journals
• Bibliography of Asian Studies - Humanities and social sciences information on East, Southeast and South Asia.
• Historical Abstracts - Indexes literature on the history of the world since 1450 except for the United States and Canada.

Find books

Library Catalogue search guide

Search the SFU Library Catalogue: Advanced keyword

To find a specific book

  Use "Browse by title"

• Afterlives of Chinese communism: poltical concepts from Mao to Xi
• Women and China's revolutions
• (women OR gender OR feminis*) AND (rights OR equal*) AND China

Examples of keyword combinations for some of the research topics

You can limit the result to "books" by using "Resource type" of "Books

• China AND (Mao OR post-Mao OR "cultural revolution")
• (Mao* OR post-Mao*) AND China AND (policy OR policies OR reform*)
• (Mao* OR post-Mao* OR patriarch* OR patrili*) AND (women OR gender) AND China
  • above results limited by selected subjects
• Mao AND (policy OR policies)
• china AND (grassroot* OR protest*)
• Mao AND (women OR gender) AND China
• (women OR gender) AND ethni* AND "modern China"
• China AND (transgender OR queer OR LGBT* OR homosex* OR lesbian* OR Tongzhi)
• China AND (factory OR factories) AND (labor OR work*)
• China AND (social class* OR social stratific*)
• China AND "structural reform*"
• (Xinjian OR Uyghurs) AND China

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 pull-down menu and select, "Source Types" as "Books"

Note:  For Catalogue Search, when combining concepts, use CAPITAL letters ( "OR", "AND")

Selected books

• 40 Years of Reform and Opening-up : China's Model and Experience
• Borderland memories : searching for historical identity in post-Mao China
• China and the new Maoists
• China in contemporary capitalism
• China's plan for economic and social development : a review from the 1st to 14th Five-Year Plan
• Chinese women since Mao [print]
• Chinese women through Chinese eyes
• Chinese research perspectives on society. Volume 2
• Contemporary China: Society and Social Change
• Culture and social transformations : theoretical framework and Chinese context
• Dynamics of China's economy : growth, cycles and crises from 1949 to the present day
• Education and society in post-Mao China
• Ethnicity and inequality in China
• Farmland, Farming and Food in the National Economy of China, 1947 - 2020 : A Framework for Understanding China's Agricultural Track Record and Food Security
• Finding Women in the State: A Socialist Feminist Revolution in the People’s Republic of China
• From Confucius to Xi Jinping : the DNA of Chinese politics
• Gender Legacy of the Mao Era: Women's Life Stories in Contemporary China
• Gender, race and ethinicity in modern China
• Globalizing China : social and governance reforms
• Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform [print]
• Great transformation : China's road from revolution to reform
• Housing inequality in Chinese cities
• Learning from Shenzhen : China's Post-Mao Experiment from Special Zone to Model City
• Mass Politics in the People's Republic : State and Society in Contemporary China
• Modernization of Government Governance in China
• Negotiating Ethnicity in China: Citizenship as a Response to the State
• Official Governance and Self-Governance: The Reconstruction of Grassroots Social Order in China
• Party and the people : Chinese politics in the 21st century
• Political Economy of Reforms and the Remaking of the Proletarian Class in China, 1980s-2010s : Demystifying China's Society and Social Classes in the Post-Mao Era
• Proletarian China : a century of Chinese labour
• Rise of China, Inc. : how the Chinese Communist Party transformed China into a giant corporation
• Social inequality in China
• Social Transformation and State Governance in China: Theory, Path, and Policy Process
• Struggle for democracy in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong : sharp power and its discontents
• Unequal China : the political economy and cultural politics of inequality
• Why is Social Justice Possible? : Social Justice Issues during China's Period of Transition
• Zero tolerance : repression and political violence on China's new Silk Road 

Browse books using subject headings

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

• China -- Ethnic relations
• China - History -- 1949-
• China -- History -- Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976
• China -- Politics and government -- 1949-
• China -- Politics and government -- 1976-2002
• China - Social conditions
• China -- Social policy
• Ethnic groups -- China
• Equality -- China
• Ethnology -- China
• Labor -- China
• Minorities -- China
• Social change -- China
• Women -- China -- Social conditions
• Working class -- China

Presentation skills and writing help

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

• Resources on developing your participation skills
• Resources to help you improve your presentation skills

Library guides

• Library Research Tutorials. Animated tutorials on search techniques for finding books and journal articles.
• Annotated bibliographies
• Evaluating sources
• How to find journal articles
• Library Catalogue search guide
• What is a scholarly (or peer-reviewed) journal?
• What is plagiarism?  Guide to common forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them