WSDB 292: Library Guide
Our DISCOVERY SEARCH is great, but can be overwhelming!
Also try these databases to find academic articles in peer-reviewed journals:
- Academic Search Complete (also large & multidisciplinary)
- SocINDEX
- Anthropology Plus
- Gender Studies Database
- LGBT Life Fulltext
- Race Relations Abstracts
Any or all of these 6 EBSCO databases above can be searched TOGETHER
*just select Choose Databases
You may also like:
**FUN TIP:
If you have found an interesting citation that is not very recent, use the "Cited by" link available in many databases (especially in Google Scholar) to find similar and more recent articles**
MORE USEFUL TIPS:
- For Quick Tips on how to enter search terms in most of these databases, see this one-page SEARCH STRATEGIES CHEAT SHEET.
- You can click on the Scholarly/Peer-reviewed journals/Academic Articles checkbox in most of the databases above to ensure that the citations you choose are acceptable peer-reviewed articles. See also Evaluating Sources.
- Use the Findit@Concordia button within the databases to try and access the text of the articles. See also ACCESSING the texts.
Note that you can find even more subject-specific databases via our Databases by Subject Finder, but also via our SUBJECT GUIDES, prepared by librarians speciliazing in various fields and disciplines.
How-to Guide & Examples
For general guidelines on how to write a literature review, including an example of one published in a sociology journal.
Most articles in scholarly journals include a literature review as part of their text, either labeled as such or integrated within the text. For example:
- an article about disability with a very short literature review.
- 3 examples of articles with clear LITERATURE REVIEW SECTIONS (via shared Zotero library).
Click on the title to find the URL of the article, including the lit review
Some articles articles are entirely devoted to providing a review of the literature. For example:
**NOTE: YOUR PROFESSOR'S INSTRUCTIONS TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ANY GENERAL INFO GUIDES OR LIT REVIEW EXAMPLES AS ABOVE.
Lit Review Journals
A small set of specialized scholarly journals contain ONLY articles which have as their main task to review or survey the literature related to a research topic. While none of these are specfically feminist journals you can still take a look at these:
- Compass Journals. Though there is no Feminist Compass, Compass titles that could be relevant include:
- Annual Reviews
(There is no Feminist Annual Review, but Anthropology, Sociology and Psychology Annual Reviews might be useful)
*WARNING: Depending on your topic, you may not find any relevant articles from survey or review journals. You will in any case need to search the databases below to identify more of your required scholarly/academic sources.
- Use our Library Catalogue to find books at Concordia Library.
- Explore our ebooks by publisher. Try especially Oxford, Palgrave and Project MUSE for instance.
- See also Simone's Library & Book List to find books at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute.
- Try Worldcat to search libraries worldwide, and Other Library Catalogues to locate books at McGill or other Montreal libraries.
- Use Google Books to search inside the pages of books, then use a Title Search in our catalogue to find out if we own the book you want. If we don't own the book use Interlibrary Loans or other library services
- See Related Library Services to find out how to obtain material from other libraries.
**TIP/WARNING:
Though books (or book chapters/essays) can prove to be useful sources for your research paper, it will take more judgment and evaluation on your part to determine if they qualify as appropriate academic sources. See Help EVALUATING sources for some general guidelines.
The following tools may help:
- Chicago citation quick guide - author-date style
- More Chiago citation style guides
(including Concordia Library's guide, Purdue OWL, and the entire Chicago Manual of Style online)
A wide variety of potential primary sources are available online as well as at Concordia Library and other local research centres. To get an idea of what kind of material might be useful to you, take a look at our Library Research Tutorial section:
- Some of my favourite current Canadian news databases include:
- Canadian Newsstream Major Dailies -- easy access and searching of cross-canada daily newspapers
- Eureka -- excellent for Quebec sources, but also includes thousands of national and international news sources
- Factiva -- Canadian sources + international newspapers, sophisticated search options.
- To look up a SPECIFIC archival or current newspaper, you can use the Journal Title Search Option in our catalogue or the E-journals search box.
- See also our extensive lists: News & Current Events -- explore the specialized databases listed under each of the subcategories, such as:
- Start with our library guide: How to find Primary Sources, with sections such as: Diaries & Letters, Canadian History and much more.
- ** Explore our recent acquistions:
- Our Subject Guides in appropriate disciplines can also lead to useful archival and primary sources. See for instance:
- the GOVERNMENT INFORMATION page offering acccess to a great wealth of resources and search tools.
- the History Research Guide page for Canadian History Resources
- There is more to explore in our various library guides. Try for instance:
- Public Opinion Polls
- Law & Justice (including CanLII for court transcripts)
- Country Reports
- BAnQ Library offers a variety of digital archives (see for instance Patrimoine Québécois) which Quebec residents can access online from home.
- Library and Archives Canada
- See our comprehensive library guide: Statistics & Data.
- To find local statistics in all subject areas, start with the Statistics Canada site
- The latest edition of Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report (2017) provides summaries and tables on a good range of social stats (select categories from the left).
- Use Browse by Subject to see what kind of stats are available.
- You can also use the CANSIM database to access historical time series.
- for QUEBEC ONLY see also Institut de la statistique du Québec, and watch for the Gender-based Analysis (GBA) logo on certain statistical tables.
Archival and primary sources can be found in many different places and in many different libraries depending on the context. For instance:
- Concordia Library Special Collections on the Vanier campus
- Concordia University Archives.
- BANQ Archives -- both digital and print can be searched via the Pistard catalogue
If you are not certain that you are looking in the right places, use one of our our ASK A LIBRARIAN services or contact me.
Encyclopedias can sometimes help you explore or define the broader issues and themes related to your research paper topic, and get ideas or references for your searches below.
- Wiley Encyclopedia of Sexuality and Gender (2017)
- Search multiple encyclopedias simultaneously in Gale Virtual Reference Library
- **Relevant encyclopedias within this tool include Encyclopedia of Gender and Society and more.
- **Relevant encyclopedias within this tool include Encyclopedia of Gender and Society and more.
- Search the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology for possible background on theoretical issues and research concepts.
- Select from a list of Sexuality Studies Encyclopedias, or find an encyclopedia related to your topic by using our Online Encyclopedias page.
**WARNING:
Though encyclopedia articles often include bibliographies listing important books and articles, the encyclopedia articles themselves should NOT be considered as one of the required scholarly sources for your term paper.
IS IT SCHOLARLY/ACADEMIC/PEER-REVIEWED?
Your professor's instructions should always be the first criteria in determining what qualifies as an appropriate source. If you feel you need additional guidance in this area, however, you might find some relevant tips in the guides below.
- Our library tutoria onl: How do I know if an article is scholarly or peer reviewed?
- A quick library guide about (scholarly) peer-reviewed articles
- Scholarly vs. Popular Sources guide from Brekely (for book chapters as well as journal articles)
When evaluating the quality of a variety of material, the following library guide might provide some help:
- Our library tutorial on: Appropriate sources
- How to evaluate research materials and resources
** QUCK TIP FOR FINDING THE TEXT OF ARTICLES**: see our Library Tutorial:
To find out if you can access the text of any source, you must first determine whether it is a BOOK, BOOK CHAPTER or JOURNAL ARTICLE.
Is it a book, book chapter or journal article??
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To access books & book chapters:
- Just use the Title Search Option in the library catalogue to look for the name of the BOOK (not the book chapter).
- You can also use the Author Search Option in the library catalogue to look for the LAST name of the AUTHOR or EDITOR of the book (not of the book chapter).
To access journal articles:
First try typing all or part of the reference into our Discovery Search box -- it may be as easy as that!
If that doesn't work, enter the name of the JOURNAL (not the title of the article) using:
- The Journal Title Search Option in the library catalogue
- Or the E-journals search box (for ONLINE journals only)
...and then select the year, volume and issue that you need as indicated in your citation.
**POSSIBLE SHORTCUTS:
- if you have the DOI of the article, or a full citation with all of the year/volume/issue information, try using our quick Article Citation Finder or entering it into our Discovery Search box
For journals or journal issues that are NOT available online, you can siumply fill out an Article Delivery Form.
Not sure what it is?
If the citation you have is unclear or incomplete, and you still can't tell whether it is a journal, book, or book chapter:
- Try using Google, Google Scholar or Google Books to find out more and get a complete citation or reference.
- You can then look up the citation via the methods above for BOOKS & BOOK CHAPTERS or JOURNAL ARTICLES.
- Article Delivery Service - Free email service for journal articles or books chapters only available in print or in microform at Concordia.
- Interlibrary Loans (COLOMBO) - fill out an online form to receive books and articles NOT AVAILABLE at Concordia.
- BCI card (formerly CREPUQ) - allows you to directly borrow books at McGill and elsewhere.
- Quick help is always available at our Reference & Information Desk on the main floor of the Webster Library or from one of our other Ask a Librarian services - pick your favourite option.
- If you are still not finding what you need or you would like more assistance, please feel free to contact me to make an appointment.
- There are also many help & how-to pages available on our web site, including General Guides such as the step-by-step guide How to find articles.
