University of Nevada, Reno Public Anthropology Library Research Tips and Tricks

1. ANTH 439C: PUBLIC
ANTHROPOLOGY
LIBRARY RESEARCH
TIPS AND TRICKS
Jeremy Floyd
anthropology liaison librarian
jfloyd@unr.edu
http://guides.library.unr.edu/anth439c

2. TODAY’S PLAN
The Research Process
Review Articles
Scholarly Sources
Database Searching
News, Media, & Popular Sources
Evaluating Sources

3. THE RESEARCH PROCESS
(IT GETS MESSY)
3. Search for and
evaluate
information.
4. Takes notes
on sources, write
your paper, and
cite in AAA style.
2. Choose
databases and
other research
tools.
1. Choose topic
and keywords.
Formulate a
research
question.

4. REVIEW ARTICLES (THEY AREYOUR
FRIENDS)
AmericanAnthropologist: Each year since 2010 (usually
issue 1)
TheAnnual Review of Anthropology
Presents concise review of the topic
Written for anthropologists (rather than general
audience like other reference sources)
Extensive Bibliorgaphy

5. FINDING SOURCES PART 1: SCHOLARLY
LITERATURE
Anthropology Library Guide
Databases
Anthropology Plus – most comprehensive index
of anthropological journals
AnthroSource – searches across all 15 AAA
journals
OneSearch and the Library Catalog

6. EFFECTIVE DATABASE SEARCHING
 Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
 Wildcards (*)
 Thesauri and SubjectTerm searching
 Citation Mining
 Bibliographies to move backwards (sources cited by your
source)
 Web of Science or Google Scholar to move forward (sources
that later cite your source)

7. FINDING SOURCES PART 2: NEWS AND
MEDIA
 Searching the open web: Google, Bing
 News databases
 LexusNexus Academic
 AccessWorld News
 Documentaries and Films
 Kanopy Streaming
 Films on Demand
 Anthropology Blogs such as Savage Minds

8. EVALUATING SOURCES: QUESTIONSTO
ASK
 Who is the author?
 What is their background?
 What is their point of view?
 When was the information published?
 What is the context?
 Is it a reaction to recent events, or a analysis long after the fact?
 What is the intended audience?
 What does that audience share with the author, or how are they different?
 What is the purpose of the piece?
 What argument is being made?
 Is it trying to persuade you to a point of view?
 Is it try to maintain a neutral stance on the issues?

9. Questions? Need Help? Contact me:
Jeremy Floyd
anthropology liaison librarian
jfloyd@unr.edu
http://guides.library.unr.edu/anth439c