Subject and Course Guides: ANTH 3341 Anthropology Research Methods: Finding Sources

Finding Books

To locate books, use the library catalog and do an Advanced Search. This option can be found to the right of the main search bar. Set the content type filter to Book / eBook. Add terms in the search boxes that relate to your topic. Use Boolean operators if applicable. Examples of search terms might include:

archaeology
applied anthropology
ethnography
evolution
forensics
linguistics
physical anthropology
primates

You may wish to use even narrower terms, such as a particular culture, language, archaeological site, or species. Use additional filters if your results are too broad.

WorldCat
WorldCat shows library holdings of books and other materials worldwide. It can occasionally be helpful if you are trying to track down information about older or obscure materials. The ILL department can also assist you with finding and requesting such materials. If you decide to visit another library in person be sure to contact them ahead of time to make sure they still own the item and find out what is required to view their collection. Many specialty libraries require appointments and/or registration.

Boolean Operators

Boolean operators guide from MIT Libraries
A comprehensive guide about Boolean operators that includes advanced techniques I don't go over in class. If you want to become an expert in Boolean searching look here.

Using Boolean Operators when searching will give you better, and more accurate, results in most databases and catalogs. If you only search Google or Google Scholar, you won’t get very far. Google uses natural language, which is great when you want to find everyday things on the open web or get broad results, but natural language doesn’t work in databases.

An asterisk (*) means look for anything that starts or ends with those letters- child* will look for child, children, childhood, etc.
AND means look for both of these terms- child* AND game*
OR means look for either of these terms- child* OR juvenile
NOT excludes words or phrases- game* NOT sport*
Using Quotations or brackets will search for a phrase as a whole- "children's games"
Asterisk (*) all by itself means "show me everything"- set your filters and put * in the search box to see everything that meets those criteria.
Use () to group terms- (child* OR juvenile) AND (game* NOT sport*)

Finding Articles

Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window
EBSCO's User Interface (UI) will transition to a new platform on Dec. 12, 2024, which include adjustments to current functionalities. Due to such adjustments, custom folders will not transfer, so it is highly recommended that users with their own MyEBSCO account locally save their content that's currently stored in their custom folders prior to the transition date.
A comprehensive index covering the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and related interdisciplinary research.
Anthropology Plus is a comprehensive index covering the fields of anthropology, archaeology, and related interdisciplinary research. As a compilation of the Royal Anthropological Institute's Anthropological Index and Harvard University's Anthropological Literature databases, this database offers worldwide indexing of core and lesser-known periodicals from the early 19th century to present. It includes extensive indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries. Updated quarterly.
AnthroSource This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to American Anthropological Association (AAA) publications.
AnthroSource provides full-text access to journals, newsletters, and bulletins published by the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the world's largest organization of anthropologists. This includes full-text access for all current AAA peer-reviewed publications, including American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, and Medical Anthropology. Updated regularly.
JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
JSTOR (Journal Storage) is an archive collection of over 620 full-text scholarly journals primarily from university presses and professional society publishers. Additional titles are added to the collection as back files are digitized. Subject areas include: African American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Botany, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, Folklore, History, History of Science Technology, Language Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Public Policy Administration, Science, Slavic Studies, Sociology, Statistics.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Full text of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
Project Muse offers full text articles in the humanities, arts, and social sciences from quality journal titles provided by scholarly publishers. This database covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others. Browse the list of available journals and view tables of contents.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
EBSCO's User Interface (UI) will transition to a new platform on Dec. 12, 2024, which include adjustments to current functionalities. Due to such adjustments, custom folders will not transfer, so it is highly recommended that users with their own MyEBSCO account locally save their content that's currently stored in their custom folders prior to the transition date.
Covers a large variety of topics and is recommended for most research projects. It contains articles from many academic journals, magazines, newspapers, and other credible sources.
Academic Search Complete is the world's largest scholarly, multidisciplinary full-text database designed specifically for academic institutions. It provides access to more than 8,500 full-text journals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals, as well as indexing and abstracts of more than 12,500 journals and more than 13,200 books, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Subjects covered include: anthropology, arts and literature, computer sciences, education, engineering, ethnic studies, humanities, language and linguistics, law, medical sciences, social sciences, etc. Most content is available in printer-friendly, searchable PDFs. Updated daily.