SA 366: Forced Migration and Refugee Studies

Contact info

For Library research help, please contact Moninder Lalli, Librarian for Sociology / Anthropology by email (moninder_lalli@sfu.ca) 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.

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 articlesWhat 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.
  • Eldis -- Current research and policy documents on international development issues. In addition to "keyword" searching, also see "topics" and "issues" (top bar). E.g. "migration"
  • ProQuest Sociology Collection - for issues related to class, gender, racism, sexuality and sexism and theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and policy science. Other major topics include: migration, refugees, societal structures, and immigrants
  • Social Sciences Full Text 
  • GEOBASE  "Human geography" discipline studies issues related to "refugees" and "migration"
  • HeinOnline  indexes many legal journals
  • Women's Studies International - Key database for issues related to women or gender.

Selected journals

Find books in the Library

Library Catalogue search guide 

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

Note: In the searches belowsearch results can be limited to "Online Resources only" and "Resource type" of "Books" and selected "Subjects"

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")

When you find a useful book, click on its "subject" to find more books on the same topic.

Selected books

Browse Books Using Subject Headings

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

Government publications

Publications by NGOs & International Government Organizations

There are two specialized Google search engines to search for NGO

Type your search terms into these pre-built searches to limit results to specific organisation types. Use Search tips for Google and Google Scholar to create your search strings. 

NGO Search
NGO Search is a Google Custom Search that searches across hundreds non-governmental organization (NGO) websites. 

E.g. 

Search: refugees
Search: intitle:refugees [Syria OR Iraq]
Search: "forced migration"

IGO Search
International governmental organizations (IGOs) are organizations made up of more than one national government—examples include NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and the WHO (World Heath Organization). The governments are the members. IGO Search is a Google Custom Search that searches across IGO websites. 

Library guides

Presentation skills

Writing help

Student Learning Commons provides assistance and numerous, helpful guides.