Research Guide for Anthropology
Contact:
Dena Hutto
,
Director of Reference & Instruction
Reference Works
These subject-specific
encyclopedias provide easy access to authoritative definitions and
concepts used in the methodology and approaches to anthropology and the
study of cultures.
Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology, 4 vols.
Encyclopedia of World Cultures, 10 vols.
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 26 vols.
World Geographical Encyclopedia, 5 vols.
Ref GN307.E52 1996
A guide to the theory and practice of cultural anthropology containing
articles on approaches, methods, concepts, and key topics. Includes
bibliographical references.
Ref GN307.E53 1991
Each volume is dedicated to a different region of the world. Provides
an overview of local ethnologies and cultures. Includes references.
Ref H41.I58 2001
Landmark reference work provides a disciplinary and cross-disciplinary
survey of the social and behavioral sciences. Includes important
institutions, history, ethics of research, biographies, statistics, and
research design. Includes bibliographic references.
Ref G63.E5213 1995
Covers the populated continents. Articles are organized by country
rather than by culture and include profiles on the natural environment,
population, economy summary, and history. Includes color photographs.
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Journal Literature
AnthroSource
(coverage varies)
The American Anthropological Association's journal collection includes current issues of 15 major journals and complete electronic archives for all of the association's publications. Provides seamless searching across both Anthrosource and JSTOR journal collections.
JSTOR
(coverage varies)
This electronic archive of essential academic journals includes several major journals from the field of anthropology. Current issues of journals are not included in JSTOR, so use Anthrosource to access recent journal articles.
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Literature Review Tools
A literature review on any topic begins with a thorough search for books using the library catalog, Summit, and WorldCat.
But in order to conduct a more thorough search, including the journal
literature and other source materials, more tools are needed. These
sources are especially useful for students of anthropology.
Annual Review of Anthropology
Literature reviews on a broad range of topics in the field of anthropology. Invaluable for identifying and tracking trends and important contributions to the literature.
Anthropological Literature Plus
(late 19th century - present)
An index to articles and essays on anthropology and archaeology, including all the information from Harvard's Tozzer Library. No abstracts are provided, but this is an important research tool for its broad coverage of journal and monographic literature in the field.
Social Sciences Index
(1983 - present)
This basic index of widely-available journals (including many owned by Reed) is a good starting point for generalists or for cross-disciplinary searches.
Social Sciences Citation Index (part of Web of Science)
(1900 - present)
Abstracts of articles published in some of the most prestigious journals from a broad spectrum of the social sciences disciplines. An essential part of any literature search in the social sciences for its currency, selectivity, and the ability to search for important works or authors cited.
Sociological Abstracts
(1952 - present)
The primary research database for sociologists is an important research tool for cultural anthropologists as well. Abstracts of scholarly articles, book reviews, and conference papers.
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Web-Based Resources
eHRAF
The Human Relations Area Files are the product of an inter-university
project to collect information about and classify all known cultures of
the world. New topics are added to each of these collections on a
regular basis. The web version of HRAF, eHRAF, is published in two
parts:
World Cultures
(coverage varies)
Source materials organized by culture, ethnic group, and cultural topic.
Archaeology
(coverage varies)
Source materials organized by archaeological traditions and cultural topics.
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