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Research Starting Points - A good place to start your research.

How to Critically Evaluate Sources

Authority * Is the article signed? * Who is the author? * What are the author's credentials? * With which institution(s) are they affiliated? * Is the publication scholarly or popular? Are there footnotes?A bibliography?	Objectivity * Who is the audience? * What is the purpose of the article? * Does the author state the goals for this article or web page? * Does the site inform, educate, persuade or act as a soapbox? * If the author is affiliated with an institution, does this affiliation bias the information presented?
Accuracy * Is the web site well organized? * Has the author used good grammar? Are there spelling errors? * Are the graphics appropriate for the content? * Is the information complete and accurate?	Currency *When was the web site created, or the article written? If it has been updated, is there a revision date? * Do the links on the web site work? * Is the page maintained regularly?

See also Critically Analyzing Information Sources,
Reference Department;
Instruction, Research, and Information Services (IRIS);
Cornell University Library
Ithaca, NY, USA

How to Evaluate Web Sites

Evaluating Internet Sources U.C. Berkeley Library
Checklist for evaluating web sites University of Wisconsin, Madison

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Choosing Key Terms

When you have chosen your research statement or question, take some time to break the statement down into key terms or phrases. You will use these terms in the various databases to find sources on your topic.

Example: Use of dialect to establish community/identity or as a social barrier.
Key Terms: Dialect, community, identity, social barriers

Some hints for choosing key terms:

Be flexible: After dividing you statement into key terms, think of alternative terms, such as synonyms, or broader, narrower, or related terms. Each database may use different keyword or subject terms to describe a topic.

Example: Dialect (broader- African Americans languages; narrower - Ebonics or Black English)

Think globally and chronologically: Consider terms that contain a geographic area, or a broad or specific time period.

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Catalog – This is what you use to find out if the Library owns a particular book, journal, video or other type of media.  You can search by keyword, author (last name first), title, or subject heading.  Remember to use your subject headings to find more relevant resources on a topic.
The following list provides some relevant subject headings for anthropology related topics:

Applied Anthropology	Community
Anthropology	Social change
Gender	Social problems
Social Conflict	Ethnology
Ethnic Relations	Ethnic Groups
Race Relations	Social institutions
Social systems	Social structure
Women in development	Population
Research	Methodology
Field Work	Qualitative research

Core Print Resources
All these sources can be found in the Bird Library Reference area, 1st floor
Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict , HM291 .E625 1999
Greenwood encyclopedia of women’s issues worldwide, HQ1154 .G74 2003
Human rights encyclopedia, JC571 .L523 2001
Worldmark encyclopedia of cultures and daily life , GN333 .W67 1998

Databases

These are electronic indexes that you can search to locate journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations and conference or proceeding papers.  Some databases provide full text access; others only provide you with the citation.  The Library owns over 300 databases.  Some are very subject specific (e.g. Anthropological Literature, AnthroSource); others are interdisciplinary (e.g. Expanded Academic, Wilson Select).  To access any of the databases from off campus, you will be prompted for a user name and password.  Your user nameis your ten digit ID # (make sure that you use all ten digits) and your password is your last name in lower-case letters.  For additional assistance with this, please go to the instructions for remote access.

Recommended Databases

AnthroSource
Full-text of journals published by the American Anthropological Association.

Anthropological Literature
Index to articles and essays on anthropology and archaeology, including art history, demography, economics, psychology, and religious studies. Updated quarterly; 1984 - present.

Anthropological Index
Bibliographic citations from the journal holdings the Library of the British Museum Department of Ethnography (now known as the Anthropology Library), which incorporates the former Royal Anthropological Institute library.

HRAF Collection of Ethnography
Full-text descriptive information on the cultures of the world.

JSTOR
Full-text archive of scholarly publications in mathematics, science, and the social sciences.

Web of Science
Citation index to 8700 authoritative, high impact journals, including 200 open access journals, covered by Science Citation Index ExpandedTM, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Backfile data to 1995.

Locating Journal Articles
1.    Go to the Database Main Menu to locate a relevant database.  You can choose a database by using the general subject categories of Social Sciences, Humanities, Science & Technology, Newspapers, etc. or you can choose an interdisciplinary database.  Remember, some of the databases offer full text of the articles online, but others you will need to locate the journal article either through one of the e-journal packages or in print. 

2.     If the database is not full text, write down the full citation of the article that you want.  Full citations include:  author’s name, journal name, title of article, dates, volume & issue # (if available) and page numbers.

        Example:  Morris-Roberts, Kathryn. 2001. “Intervening in Friendship Exclusion? The Politics of Doing Feminist  Research with Teenage Girls.”  Ethics, Place and Environment 4.2 :147-153.

3.    With this information go to the Full Text Journal Locator (you can access this through the E-Journals link on the  Library webpage) to see if we have the article available full text through another database.  If we do, use an advanced search in the database to locate the article.

4.     If the article is not available full text online, go to the Summit online catalog, to find a call # for the journal that you are looking for.  Using the call # and the article citation, go to the relevant floor and locate it. However, current issues (from the last year) are kept on the 2nd floor in the Current Periodicals area.

5.  If the Library does not own the journal that you need, you can request it through interlibrary loan (ILLiad). This is a free service that you can use as often as you like.  Generally, you can borrow a book for 4-6 weeks and a journal article is photocopied and yours to keep.  Please note:  It can take 7-14 days to receive materials through Interlibrary Loan.

For Your Information
To make Copies - 1st Floor, where you can purchase a VendaCard.  You will need one of these to print out or photocopy materials in the library.  There are copiers usable with a vendacard, on floors 2-4 of Bird Library. There are two copiers in the extended use area outside of the Library on the first floor that are coin-operated, but the copies are .15 with coins, rather than .08 with the card. You cannot take periodicals outside to the extended use area to copy.

Reserves –1st floor at Circulation desk; be sure to have your call number first before going to get the material at the Reserves desk.

Media Services – Lower level – access to Microsoft Word and other graphics-type of software (Adobe products, etc.).  Also, video collection and microforms.

Current Periodicals - 2nd floor - Journals, magazines and newspapers from the last 6-12 months are shelved here in alphabetical order.

Careers

American Anthropological Association. Careers in Anthropology

 

 

Style Guides
Citation Style Guides - This page links to various style manuals available online: A.P.A. (American Psychological Association), M.L.A. (Modern Language Association), Turabian, and general guides.

AAA Style Guide