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Contact info
For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Sociology / Anthropology 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.
Selected reference works
Encyclopedias, handbooks or textbooks provide overviews, definitions and identify key authors and ideas.
- Handbook of Disability Sport and Exercise Psychology
- International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences
- Oxford Handbook of Sport and Society
- Palgrave Handbook of Feminism and Sport, Leisure and Physical Education
- Palgrave handbook of masculinity and sport
- Palgrave Handbook of Paralympic Studies
- Routledge handbook of global sport
- Routledge Handbook of Sport and New Media
- Routledge Handbook of Sport, Gender and Sexuality
- Routledge handbook of sport, race and ethnicity
- Routledge handbook of sports development
- Routledge handbook of the business of women's sport
- Routledge handbook of the sociology of sport
- Sage Knowledge
- Women in sports : a reference handbook
- World sports: a reference handbook
Find journal articles using databases
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.
- 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 -- for scholarly articles in social sciences.
- Sport Discus -- worldwide literature on exercise and sports.
- CBCA Reference and Current Events -- covers Canadian topics including business, politics, literature, history, current events and news
Selected journals
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, either the Basic or the Advanced search
Note: In the searches below, search results have been limited to "Resource type" of "Books" and selected "Subjects"
- socialization AND sport*
- sociology AND sport*
- sport* AND (race OR racial* OR discrim* OR exclusion OR colonial*)
- Sport* AND (capitalism OR neoliberal* OR globalization)
- sport* AND (gender OR sexual* OR lgbt* OR queer* OR gay OR lesbian* OR homosexual*)
- (accessib* OR disabil* OR handicap* OR crip*) AND (athlet* OR sport*)
- "women athletes" OR "female athletes"
- (drugs OR doping) AND sport*
- "conflict theory" AND sport*
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
- 21st Century Jocks: Sporting Men and Contemporary Heterosexuality
- A Performative Feel for the Game: How Meaningful Sports Shape Gender, Bodies, and Social Life
- A spectacular leap : black women athletes in twentieth-century America
- Anthropology of sport : bodies, borders, biopolitics
- Athlete activism : contemporary perspectives
- Athletic activism : global perspectives on social transformation
- Black athlete as hero : American barrier breakers from nine sports
- Black athlete revolt : the sport justice movement in the age of #BlackLivesMatter
- Commodified and criminalized new racism and African Americans in contemporary sports
- Contesting ?Race' and Sport: Shaming the Colour Line
- Diversity & inclusion in sport organizations [print]
- Fitness Doping Trajectories, Gender, Bodies and Health
- Football's dark side : corruption, homophobia, violence and racism in the beautiful game
- Gender equality and the Olympic programme
- A locker room of her own : celebrity, sexuality, and female athletes
- Mascot Nation : The Controversy over Native American Representations in Sports
- Motherhood and sport : collective stories of identity and difference
- Native games indigenous peoples and sports in the post-colonial world
- New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions
- Out in Sport: The experiences of openly gay and lesbian athletes in competitive sport
- Political expression in sport : transnational challenges, moral defences
- Queer voices from the locker room
- 'Race' and sport : critical race theory
- Race, gender and sport : the politics of ethnic 'other' girls and women
- 'Race', youth sport, physical activity and health : global perspectives
- Racism and the Olympics
- Rethinking Aggression and Violence in Sport
- Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Sport: Queer Inquiries
- Sexual and Gender Politics of Sport Mega-Events: Roving Colonialism
- Skimpy Coverage : Sports Illustrated and the Shaping of the Female Athlete
- Social justice and the modern athlete : exploring the role of athlete activism in social change
- Sociology of sport : a global subdiscipline in review
- Sociology of sports : an introduction
- Sport and Challenges to Racism
- Sport and the female disabled body
- Sport and neoliberalism : politics, consumption, and culture
- Sport and social movements : from the local to the global
- Sport, rhetoric, and political struggle [print]
- Understanding sport a socio-cultural analysis
- When women stood : the untold history of females who changed sports and the world
Browse search
Choose: Browse tab, change "title" to "subject"
Some useful subject headings for this course:
- Athletes, Black
- Athletes -- Political activity
- Discrimination in sports -- United States
- Doping In Sports
- Feminism and sports
- Minorities in sports
- Olympic games
- Olympics
- Sex discrimination in sports
- Racism in sports
- Racism in sports -- United States
- Sports -- Political aspects
- Soccer -- Social aspects
- Sports -- Social aspects
- Sports -- Social Aspects -- United States
- Sports -- Sociological aspects
- Sports & Recreation -- Business Aspects
- Sports and state
- Sports and state -- Canada
- Sports for people with disabilities
- Sports For Women
- Sports team mascots
- Women athletes
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
Writing help
Student Learning Commons provides assistance and numerous, helpful guides.