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 and strategies to find information on your topic.

Strategies to find information 

• Brainstorm about your topic (ask questions & think of key terms)
• Develop search strategies for what types of information would be useful
• Write down keywords for searching
• Create “concept maps” for a topic
• Use databases for Sociology / Anthropology
• Find other reports and data

Background information

Use the sources below for definition of terms, overviews of topics, identifying key authors and resources.

• Eating disorders in children and adolescents a clinical handbook
• Encyclopedia of Adolescence
• Family in Society: Essential Primary Sources
• International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family, 2nd ed., 2003
• Oxford handbook of adolescent substance abuse  [2019]
• Routledge handbook of families in Asia
• Routledge Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood
• Routledge Handbook of sexuality, health and rights
• Routledge handbook of sport, gender and sexuality  
• Routledge international handbook of delinquency and health
• Sage eReference - over 40 encyclopedias 
• Social media : a reference handbook

Find journal Articles

How to find journal articles

Search for scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles on your topic using the databases below.  From within the database, use the "Get@SFU" icon will to find copies of articles which are not full-text within the database. Limit search results to "academic / scholarly" articles. Use the Library's Inter-Library Loans Service to obtain copies of articles not available through SFU Library.

Start with the sociological and anthropological databases, and then, depending you your topic, choose other databases to search for news, policy documents, government reports, etc.

Sociological / Anthropological

• Sociological Abstracts - main database for all aspects of sociology
  • After searching for your topic
    • limit search results by "Subject" (topic words assigned by the database)
    • limit search results by "Location" (for location, Canada or Canadian cities)
       
• Anthropology Plus - main database for for all aspects  of anthropology

Other

• Academic Search Premier - be sure to limit your search to "scholarly" articles by using the "refine search" button.
• AMMSA Archives -- full-text of First Nations newspapers 
• Bibliography of Native North Americans (BNNA) - Includes citations to books, articles, and government report about Native North American culture, history, and life, archaeology, multicultural relations, gaming, governance, legend, and literacy. For issues related to indigenous men, women and youth.
• Canadian Electronic Library from desLibris
  Contains the full text of public policy documents from Canadian institutes, think-tanks and research groups.
• CBCA Complete -  Canadian content. News and popular magazine articles as well as academic journal articles. Limit results to "scholarly" articles
• Communication & Mass Media Complete - Focus is on media & popular culture. Look for information on topics such as "influence of media on body image of women."
• Criminal Justice Abstracts Index to all aspects of criminal justice, including psychological.
• Political Science Complete - Journals, reference books and monographs, and conference papers on political topics with a worldwide focus, reflecting the globalization of contemporary political discourse.
• Social Sciences Full Text - indexes social sciences journals including sociology and anthropology
• Women's Studies International - key feminist database, issues related to women, gender, gender roles, sexuality, LGBT, etc.

Find Books

Library Catalogue search guide

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."

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

For known items it is best to check using "Browse by title"

Note: In the searches below, you can limit search results to "Online Resources only" and "Resource type" of "Books". You can further limit by using "Subject" (left-hand column)

• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people")  <----- terms for the age groups
• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people")  AND (gay* OR transgend* OR lesbian* OR queer* OR LGBT*)
• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people")  AND (bully* OR cyberbully*)
• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people") AND (poverty OR poor OR "low-income" OR welfare)
• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people")  AND (aborig* OR native* OR indian* OR indigen* OR metis OR inuit) AND Canad*
• (aborig* OR indigen*) AND intergeneration* AND Canad*
• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people")  AND (immigr* OR "visible minor*" OR race OR ethnic*) AND canad*
• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people")  AND (consumer* OR  lifestyle*)
• (youth OR adolescen* OR "young people")  AND ("political participation" OR vote OR voting)
• (youth OR adolescen* OR child* OR teen* OR girl* OR boy* OR "young people")  AND ("Social media" OR Twitter OR Facebook OR Instagram OR Netflix)
• (religio* OR ethnic* OR cultur*) AND identit* AND intergeneration*
• [name of ethnic group] AND intergeneration*

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")

TIP: Use "subject headings" found within the library record to find other useful book titles.

 

Selected books

• Adolescence and Body Image: From Development to Preventing Dissatisfaction
• Am I safe here? : LGBTQ teens and bullying in schools
• Challenges for LGBTQ teens
• Changing narratives of youth crime : from social causes to threats to the social
• Child's Play: Sport in Kids' Worlds
• Childhood and Tween Girl Culture: Family, Media and Locality
• Children in Canada today [print]
• Children on the Move: The Health of Refugee, Immigrant and Displaced Children
• Cyberbullying bullying in the digital age
• Dude, you're a fag: masculinity and sexuality in high school
• Growing into resilience : sexual and gender minority youth in Canada
• Growing Up Queer: Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity
• Inclusion and exclusion through youth sport
• Indigenous Children and the Child Welfare System in Canada
• Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim Racism Through the Lived Experiences of Muslim Youth
• Juvenile delinquency : a sociological approach
• Making-up people : youth, truth and politics
• Navigating Languages, Literacies and Identities: Religion in Young Lives
• Perceptions of intergenerational conflict among Chinese immigrant families in British Columbia
• Sexting and cyberbullying : defining the line for digitally empowered kids
• Sikh Diaspora in Vancouver: Three Generations Amid Tradition, Modernity, and Multiculturalism
• Sociology of childhood and youth in Canada  [print]
• Under-served : health determinants of Indigenous, inner-city, and migrant populations in Canada [print]
• Young People's Civic Identity in the Digital Age
• Young people, social media and health
• Youth and internet pornography : the impact and influence on adolescent development

Find books by subject headings

Use the Browse Search option in the SFU Library Catalogue.  Select "Subject" (drop-down menu), and enter term.

• Adolescent
• Advertising and children
• Bullying
• Child Care -- Government policy -- Canada
• Child consumers
• Children -- Canada -- Social Conditions
• Cyberbullying
• Families
• Families -- Canada
• Gay youth
• Gangs -- Canada
• Homeless -- Youth -- Canada
• Indigenous Youth -- Canada
• Intergenerational relations
• Internet and teenagers
• Juvenile delinquency
• Sociology of family youth and aging
• Teenage boys
• Teenage girls
• Transgender youth
• Voting  -- Canada
• Youth
• Youth -- Canada
• Youth -- Political activity

Government and statistics

British Columbia

• Family & Social Support
• BCStats - The Government of British Columbia's Statistics Portal
• DataBC - Search Government of BC data, including Criminology-related data
• B.C.'s Key Indicators
• ​People, Population, Community
• Employment & Labour Market

Canada

Canada. Department of Justice

Public Safety Canada's Publications and Reports -- research papers, bulletins, statistical reports, and more, which support evidence-based policing.

Statistics Canada - is the main statistical agency with responsibility to gather statistical data on Canadians.  Explore their "subject", "data", and "analysis" sections as well as trying keyword searches on your topic.

• Publications by subject
  • Children and youth
  • Families, households and marital status
• Census Program
• Data
  • Children and youth
• Dimensions of Poverty Hub
  • brings together data on the 12 indicators of Canada's Official Poverty Dashboard from the Government of Canada.
• Gender, diversity and inclusion statistics
• Aboriginal Peoples Survey (1)
• Search:
  • youth and labour
    • Children and youth statistics
    • A Portrait of Canadian Youth: March 2019 Updates (11-631-X2019003)
    • Portrait of Youth in Canada: Data Report (42-28-0001)
    • Labour market activities for youth
  • ethni* and (child* or youth)

Database

Statista a simple to use statistics portal that integrates statistics from thousands of sources, on topics related to business, media, public policy, health and others. Statistics can be exported in PPT, XLS, PDF, and PNG formats.

E.g.

Under the tab, "statistics", check out the topic, "internet" to find statistics on "Social Media & User-Generated Content" and reports such as, "Online dating worldwide"

You can do keyword searches such as "social media" to obtain usage of social media by country.

Selected websites

• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - provides many reports on Canadian social issues from minimum wage, poverty, including effects of BC or Canadian legislation. 
  • Do a keyword search, and then filter by issues.  E.g. keyword = youth, then filter  Children and Youth, Inequality and Poverty, Indigenous Issues, Race and Anti-racism
• Network to Eliminate Violence in Relationships (NEVR) - Kwantlen

  • Resources
    • E.g. The Facts on Dating Violence in Youth Relationships
• PovNet - a BC organization since 1997. A community, with hundreds of people working in anti-poverty still participating today. [from the website]

Writing an annotated bibliography

• How to Write an Annotated Bibliography

Presentation skills

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

Other library guides

• Research Tutorials
• What is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal?
• Library Catalogue search guide
• How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
• What is plagiarism? [guide]
• Writing and Style Guides (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.)
• How to place an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request 
• Internet Research: Finding and Evaluating Resources

Writing help

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