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 reference works

Encyclopedias, handbooks or textbooks provide overviews, definitions and identify key authors and ideas.

• Blackwell companion to social inequalities
• Encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & queer culture
• Encyclopedia of gender in media 
• Encyclopedia of race and racism
• Encyclopedia of sex and gender
• Encyclopedia of Sexuality and Gender
• Global encyclopedia of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) history
• Greenwood encyclopedia of LGBT issues worldwide
• Handbook on gender and health
• Handbook of the Sociology of Gender
• Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healing: A Blueprint for the 21st Century
• Handbook of the Sociology of Sexualities
• Oxford handbook of stigma, discrimination, and health
• Palgrave handbook of gender and healthcare
• Palgrave handbook of masculinity and sport
• Routledge handbook of sexuality, health and rights
• Sage encyclopedia of LGBTQ studies
• Transgender : a reference handbook

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.

• Sociological Abstracts  Key database for sociology and anthropology journals. 
• Social Sciences Full Text 
• Women's Studies International  - for issues related to gender, sexuality and women's studies

Find books

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."

Library Catalogue search guide

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

Note: In the searches below, search results have been limited to "Online Resources only" and "Resource type" of "Books" and selected "Subjects"

• race AND class AND gender AND canad*
• (sexualit* OR mascuilin* OR feminit*) AND (theor* OR debat* OR issue*)
• (gender OR masculin* OR feminin*)  AND sociolog*
• gender AND ethnic* AND (racial* OR racism)
• gender AND (sexual OR reproductive) AND (health OR rights)
• gender AND reproductive AND (technologies OR rights)
• masculin*  AND sociolog*
• gender AND (work OR jobs OR employ*)

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

• The Cultural Politics of U.S. Immigration: Gender, Race, and Media
• Disrupting queer inclusion : Canadian homonationalisms and the politics of belonging
• Gender Capital at Work : Intersections of Femininity, Masculinity, Class and Occupation
• Gender perspectives and gender impacts of the global economic crisis
• Gender Work : Feminism after Neoliberalism
• Global Masculinities and Manhood
• Global Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage A Neo-Institutional Approach
• Hard Work Is Not Enough: Gender and Racial Inequality in an Urban Workspace
• Infertility around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies
• LGBT Athletes in the Sports Media
• LGBT Transnational Identity and the Media
• Marginality and Global LGBT Communities Conflicts, Civil Rights and Controversy
• Misogyny in American culture : causes, trends, and solutions
• Talking Bodies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Embodiment, Gender and Identity
• Thinking queerly : race, sex, gender, and the ethics of identity
• The transgender studies reader / edited by Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle

Browse search

Choose: Browse tab, change "title" to "subject"

• Gay Liberation Movement Canada
• Gay Rights -- Canada
• Gay Rights United States
• Gender and sexuality
• Gender identity
• Heterosexism
• Queer Theory
• Transsexual Men
• Transgender People
• Racism -- Canada
• Sex change
• Sex role
• Transsexualism
• Transsexuals
• Transvestism
• Transsexuals -- Civil rights
• Transsexuals -- Legal status, laws, etc.

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