Anthropology 210 : Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
Background Information
Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. 4 vols.
Offers articles, arranged alphabetically by topic, on many concepts in cultural anthropology, as well as linguistics, biological anthropology and archaeology. Each essay contains an extensive bibliography.
Ref. GN 307 q.E52 1996 v. 1-4
Encyclopedia of World Cultures. 10 vols.
Lists cultures alphabetically and gives brief information (where known) about history, kinship, economy, marriage, religious customs and so on. Entries include a
bibliography of at least one item, usually more.
Ref. GN 550 q.E53 1991
Fieldwork in the Library.
Subtitled: "A guide to research in anthropology and related
area studies." Offers in-depth descriptions of a large
number of library sources.
Ref. Z 5111 .W47 1994
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. 25 vols.
Entries are the length of short articles, are signed, and include bibliographies. There is one index volume for subjects and another for names.
Ref. H41 .I58 2001
Introduction to Library Research in Anthropology.
A basic guide to just about everything you need to know:
searching library catalogs, specialized bibliographies,
indexes and abstracts, HRAF, etc.
Ref. Z 5111 .W44 1998
The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. 3 vols.
Don't know your hermeneutics from your heuristics? This work provides entries ranging from brief definitions to short articles on various aspects of social science methodology. The longer entries include brief bibliographies. A related title, the Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry, is a useful companion.
Ref. [q.] H62 .L456 2004 The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods
Ref. H61 .S4435 2001 Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry
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Finding Books
To find items owned by the library, search LUCIA. Try a Subject begins with search, for example, ethnology or hmong americans. LUCIA will list other subject headings (and subheadings) which may be of interest. For advanced research you should consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings, or LCSH, a guide to the terms commonly used in catalogs like ours. The LCSH can be found on top of the Ready Reference shelves behind the reference desk on the first floor of the library.
To combine terms for a different kind of search, try a Keyword Anywhere search. In keyword searching, LUCIA will look for the terms you specify anywhere in the important areas of the cataloging records, and display a list of those records. You can search for phrases like physical anthropology or for individual terms connected by logical operators like AND or OR. You might want to try searching for some of the terms you find in the LCSH, or try targeting your keyword search by telling LUCIA to look for the terms in the subject area of the records. Compare the keyword search gender* and anthropolog* with the Subject Keyword search for gender* and anthropolog*. The asterisk acts as a truncation symbol and tells LUCIA to search for all words starting gender, like genders, gendered, gendering, and so forth, and for all the words starting with anthropolog: anthropology, anthropologist, anthropological, etc. The Subject Keyword search tells LUCIA to look for the specified term in the subject area of the cataloging record. To find videos owned by the Mudd, try a keyword search like ethnic and history and video*. Also try documentary films and video*.
Books are arranged on the library's shelves by Library of Congress Classification. This is a system that organizes materials by general subjects. Once you have a call number from searching LUCIA, see this guide to call number locations at Mudd and the library floor maps to find out where a book might be on the shelves.
Search LUCIA for materials in our library; try WorldCat to find materials beyond the Mudd. Make sure you've thoroughly searched our library before going to WorldCat. See a reference librarian if you need help.
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Finding Articles
The best index to use will depend on your topic. Be sure to check the Electronic Resources page for other options. Two of our resources, JSTOR and Project MUSE provide complete full text. Some of our indexes include the following.
Essential Indexes: these should be among your starting points for finding advanced materials.
Abstracts in Anthropology.
Good place to find sources for more information about people and cultures. Very general subject index.
Reference Indexes
Anthropological Index Online
From the Royal Anthropological Institute.
AnthroSource
Searchable full text current issues of 11 major journals published by the American Anthropological Association, plus a complete electronic archive of all AAA journals through 2003.
Sociological Abstracts
Citations to articles on all aspects of sociology. Our subscription includes access to Social Services Abstracts as well.
General and Multidisciplinary Indexes: include citations and some full text of materials from a broad variety of fields including gender studies and sociology. Some include current news articles.
Academic OneFile
A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics. Includes full-text articles, many with images. 1980 - present; updated daily.
Alternative Press Index.
Indexes journals covering cultural, economic, political & social change.
Contemporary Women's Issues.
Contemporary women's issues on health and human rights.
EBSCOhost.
A single Web source for multiple databases. Contains broad and specialized
coverage of academic and general periodicals. Follow the link for EBSCOhost Web. Academic Search Elite may be particularly useful.
ERIC
An important source of journal articles and other publications in Education and related fields.
Ethnic NewsWatch.
"An interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish) full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press."
Many other indexes from related disciplines might be appropriate to your research, for example, indexes from the fields of history, psychology, or government. See a reference librarian for other suggestions.
Once you have a citation for an article on your topic, look in LUCIA for the title of the journal to see if the library owns it. You should also search BESS, an automated search of the library's fulltext databases, for electronic copies of articles.
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Human Relations Area Files (HRAF and eHRAF)
The HRAF Collection of Ethnography consist of thousands of books, articles, reports, etc., in the field of ethnography, on microfiche cards. The data on the microfiche has been analyzed according to a system of 710 categories of cultural information. The files contain data largely on non-western cultures. The microfiche is accessed through the two sources, Outline of World Cultures and Outline of Cultural Materials. The HRAF microfiche files are located in the microfilm file cabinets on the first floor of the library. The items in the files are indexed by pulling information from them into hundreds of subject categories. A brief guide to using the HRAF Collection of Ethnography is available from our library.
The most recent installments (NOT the whole HRAF file!) are on the World Wide Web as the eHRAF Collection of Ethnography and the more recent eHRAF Collection of Archaeology. There are help files available for eHRAF from the University of Michigan and from eHRAF at Yale. Please ask a reference librarian for further help in using the HRAF and eHRAF collections.
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Finding Government Documents
Although documents from the state government of Wisconsin are listed in LUCIA, most United States Government Documents are not. There are several ways to search for government documents, but the two listed below will be the most direct. You might also want to take a look at the library's Guide to Understanding the Government Document Numbering System before you head to the Documents shelves on the second floor. Many sources for government information are on the Web; be sure to look at the library's United States Government Documents page.
Google U.S. Government
The popular and helpful Google search applied specifically to finding government information. Searches local, state, military, and national government Web pages.
GPO Monthly Catalog
Catalog of US government publications, covering 1976 - current. Searchable in many ways, via FirstSearch.
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Web Resources
Lawrence University: Anthropology Department
Haven't seen these yet? If not, it's time you did.
Internet Resources for Anthropology
Another list of useful resources for anthropology, this one maintained by the librarians of Seeley G. Mudd.
Of course, there are many more web resources available that might be useful in your research. You might want to try looking at sources that select the best of the Web, like these:
It's important to think carefully about any information you find in any format, and to evaluate resources for their accuracy, applicability, and so forth. Evaluation of web resources is especially important. You may want to consult this guide to Evaluating Internet Resources. The library's Web Wise Guide to Searching give some helpful inside tips. You can often learn a lot about a page (and a site) by parsing the URL.
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Style Manuals
AAA Style Guide
The style guide of the American Anthropological Association.
Anthropology Citation Formats
Brief information on citing many kinds of materials, print and non-print. From the librarians at the Mudd.
The Chicago Manual of Style.
A standard source for bibliographic format.
RRef. Z253 .U69 2003
Citing Electronic Documents
This page provides guidance on citing electronic documents and links to other guides, some on specific styles of documentation.
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Research Tips
For books:
The Library of Congress system does not use the term "Ethnography" as a subject. Instead, it divides things related to ethnography between "Ethnology" (writings on ethnic groups) and "Anthropology" broadly. To work around this, try these two strategies. First, use the Guided Search, and on the first search block, change from an All Fields search to a Subject Keywords search for anthropolog*. Combine this with All Fields or Subject Keywords searches for words related to your topic. The second possibility is to search All Fields for ethnograph* and either All Fields or Subject Keywords for other terms.
For articles:
In Abstracts in Anthropology you will need to search year by year. It is not cumulative.
In Anthropological Index Online be sure to look at the help on keywords. In this index, keywords are what you might call subject headings in other databases (just to keep you on your toes). Automatically truncates if you select the Match anywhere option.
In AnthroSource the simple search looks for the terms you type in all fields, including the full text. In the advanced search, it looks for the terms you type in the fields you specify. Use the * for truncation.
In Sociological Abstracts you should take a look at the
For anything:
While you will find material on your topic in resources for anthropology, you may also want to consider searching for material from other fields like linguistics, history, and more. In addition to consulting catalogs and indexes, be sure to look at bibliographies supplied at the end of relevant articles, chapters, and books, and to search library catalogs for book-length bibliographies.
Your sources must be fully documented in any written work you produce. It may help to look at the information on style before you start your research, so that you will have all the required documentation at hand when you need it. Then as you write, go back to the resources on style for details on the exact format of your citations.
The sources listed in this guide were chosen for the broad coverage they provide. Direct links are provided to Internet resources and searchable databases, as well as links to LUCIA, the library's online catalog. Be sure to check the library's Electronic Resources page regularly to see new databases and indexes; some of these will only be available to users on the Lawrence campus. Also, you may want to take a look at guides on related topics from the Library Research Guides page.
Evaluating the resources you find is an essential part of the research process. See this guide to hints on evaluation of books and articles and this guide to evaluating Internet resources.
As always, if you have any questions be sure to ask a Reference Librarian.
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Definitions of terms and abbreviations:
Ref. = Reference collection, first floor
RRef.= Ready Reference, shelves behind the reference desk
Periodicals = Level A
GovDoc = U.S. Government Documents, second floor
Reference Indexes = Alphabetically arranged at the end of the reference collection
Microform Area = Reading room east of the reference desk, near microform drawers
q. = Oversized books: interfiled in reference and M class scores; at end of classes in other collections
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