Research Strategies

BASIC STRATEGY FOR BACKGROUND RESEARCH
IN ANTHROPOLOGY

STEP 1 - FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

STEP 2 - FIND BOOKS

STEP 3 - FIND JOURNAL AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

STEP 4 - FIND WORLD WIDE WEB INFORMATION

STEP 1 - FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

This first step is designed to assist you in limiting or defining your research topic. Often people are tempted to skip this step and jump directly to books or periodicals. However, it is more efficient to do background reading in encyclopedias, handbooks, etc. first. The Western Oregon University Library maintains a core collection of reference books that covers a wide range of topics and subject areas. The following are excellent sources of information on diverse ethnic groups located throughout the world. They are listed in the order of their importance:

Where: Reference Area, 1st Floor of Hamersly Library
Tip: Start your research by looking in the Index

Encyclopedia of World Cultures, v. 1-10 GN307 .E53 1991
Atlas of World Cultures GN345.3 .M86 1981
Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology, v. 1-4 GN307 .E52 1996
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mankind GN 307 .I44 1989
World Geographical Encyclopedia G63 .E5213 1995

STEP 2 - FIND BOOKS

By doing online research on WOLF and ORBIS, you can access a wealth of bibliographic information on relevant books, microforms, government documents, and audiovisual holdings. WOLF lists all of Western Oregon University's holding. ORBIS combines information on holdings in the Western library, as well as holdings in other regional libraries. Most items that you view on ORBIS are readily available: when you request a book, you will receive it within two to three days. For information on using ORBIS, press the "help" button on the ORBIS main page.

Where: Hamersly Library Homepage, which can be accessed on any university computer (you cannot connect to WOLF or ORBIS databses from a non-university server)
Tip: To begin research on a particular culture group, try first typing in the name of the culture-group as the keyword.

STEP 3 - FIND JOURNAL AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES USING ONLINE PERIODICAL INDEXES

If you are curious to see what kind of articles anthropologists are publishing, or if you need inspiration for a senior project topic, you can browse through the anthropology journals that we receive at Hamersly Library.

Where: Periodical Section, 1st Floor
Anthropology Journals in Hamersly Library:
African Studies Review
American Anthropologist
American Antiquity
American Ethnologist
American Indian Culture and Research Journal
Anthropological Quarterly
Anthropology & Education Quarterly
Archaeology
Arctic Anthropology
Current Anthropology
Ethnohistory
Ethnology
Historical Archaeology
Human Ecology
Human Organizaiton
Journal of Anthropological Research
Journal of Modern African Studies
SAA Archaeological Record
Annual Review of Anthropology
Anthropology Northwest

To do searches of academic articles published by anthropologists you can access several on-line periodical indexes. Go to the Hamersly Library homepage, then select "Journal Articles" to view the following databases listed below. The articles listed in these databases are generally published in major journals. Some of these journals are received by Hamersly Library, but for those that are not, copies of published articles can be requested through Interlibrary Loan--a process that takes about a week.

Where: Internet connection--Hamersly Library Homepage, accessed on any university computer.

The single most valuable periodical index for anthropology majors is ANTHROPOLOGICAL LITERATURE, which is a database of anthropological articles and book chapters published in academic journals and edited volumes. To access ANTHROPOLOGICAL LITERATURE, go to to the Hamersly Library homepage, click on "Journal Articles," then "Anthropological Literature"

The second most useful periodical index for anthropology majors is ACADEMIC SEARCH ELITE, which includes articles from the major anthropology journals as well as other social science journals. The downside of ACADEMIC SEARCH ELITE is that indexed articles are not dated more than 10 to 15 years (unlike ANTHROPOLOGICAL LITERATURE). The benefit of ACADEMIC SEARCH ELITE is that many articles are available in full-text, which means you can obtain the article right then-and-there. To access ACADEMIC SEARCH ELITE, go to the HamerslyLibrary homepage, click on "Journal Articles," then "Academic Search Elite."

Another excellent databse for anthropologists is THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INDEX OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. This database indexes many esoteric and hard-to-find articles on ethnic groups from around the world. To access THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INDEX OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, click here. When you have arrived at the webpage, click on "Quick Search of AIO" then check off "All Years" and type in the name of the ethnic group you are researching.

In addition, you can use the on-line database ACADEMIC UNIVERSE to find out about articles published in newspapers and popular journals from around the world, including the New York Times. Non-academic newspapers and journals are often the best place to obtain information on a "hot topic" or a contemporary issue not covered in formal scholarly journals. To access ACADEMIC UNIVERSE, go to the Hamersly Library homepage, click on "Journal Articles," then "Academic Universe."

Tip:

select either a) North/South America or b) European or c) Asia/Pacific or d) Middle East/Africa

Please note: Excellent international coverage can be found in The New York Times. To access the New York Times via ACADEMIC UNIVERSE, go to the Hamersly Library homepage, click on "Journal Articles," then click on "New York Times." Remember to give a broad time frame since news coverage of small ethnic groups is not a daily or even monthly occurence.

An excellent source for bibliographic information on anthropological topics (as opposed to particular ethnic groups) is The Annual Review of Anthropology. The Annual Review of Anthropology is an edited volume published each year by the American Anthropological Association, which is the principal association of anthropologists in the nation. Each annual volume contains review articles of trendy topics within the four sub-fields of anthropology. By browsing through the Annual Review of Anthropology, you can get a picture of what topics are of current interest to anthropologists. Furthermore, finding a review article on a topic that interests you enables you to 1) assess major academic views on this topic and 2) find citations to dozens of other books and articles on the same topic.

To search for a review article on a particular anthropological topic, go to ACADEMIC SEARCH ELITE (see above). Enter the following information: ["Find" name of topic "In" abstract]. On the bottom of the screen, under "Journal Name," type Annual Review of Anthropology. Then press "Search." You will then have to find the article in the published Annual Review of Anthropology held in Hamersly Library -- 3rd floor, call number GN1 .A623

A final online source for bibliographic information is ANTHROPOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES & RESEARCH from the University at Buffalo. This site contains several highly specialized bibliographies on particular topics, and might be helpful for those doing their senior thesis. The site is:

http://wings.buffalo.edu/academic/department/anthropology/biblios_and_docs.html

How to Request Journal Articles through ILL (Interlibrary Loan): You can make requests for books and articles directly on-line. Click here or go to the Library Homepage, then click the "Interlibrary Loan" button on the left-hand side. Click the "Article Request Form," fill in the information, and you should have your article in about a week.

STEP 4 - FIND INFORMATION ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Where: The Hamersly Library Homepage

The World Wide Web can provide excellent information on current events, controversial issues, or social problems. Background information, explanatory documents, maps, and statistics can be located by using the search engines listed on the library homepage. But beware: all Internet searches also bring up a lot of non-relevant information that you will have to weed through! To use the most helpful search engines, click "Internet Search" in the left-hand side of the library homepage. Your options are:

              Alta Vista                     Excite
              Google                         Infoseek
              Lycos                           Northern Light
              Argus Clearinghouse     Galaxy
              Infomine                       WWW Virtual Library
              Yahoo                           HotBot

In addition, the following Internet resources are valuable to anthropologists:

The AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION lists some of the best and most up-to-date anthropology sites on the Internet. This singularly important "hub" is a good place to begin investigating the enormous wealth of anthropological material increasingly available on the Internet. http://www.ameranthassn.org/resinet.htm

Both the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAP MACHINE and ALTAPEDIA ONLINE provide county maps and general country information, to provide you with valuable information on the wider national setting in which the culture group under study resides.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAP MACHINE:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/index.html

ALTAPEDIA ONLINE: http://www.atlapedia.com/

The WORLD CULTURES homepage is a fun site for those interested in traveling.

http://members.aol.com/bowermanb/culture.html

The LIBRARY OF CONGRESS COUNTRY STUDIES provide helpful information on select countries. Not all countries are included in this data base, but for those that are listed, you can obtain a complete country profile. This serves as a good background documentfor anyone thinking of conducting anthropological research abroad.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html

Hamersly Library also contains hard copies of these country studies. To access a copy through WOLF, search the title "Area Handbook Series."

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