Resources for Cultural Anthropology
The following is support material related to a library instruction session conducted by a library instructor and a BHCC Social Science Department course instructor.
One good place to start your research on virtually any topic, including cultural anthropology, is the NOBLE online catalog. If you haven't yet used it yet, it is worth your time to take a look. The holdings of NOBLE libraries are easy to get to if you have a connection to the Internet and web browser software. You may also restrict your search to the Bunker Hill Community College Library collection only, which can be helpful and save time.
Consider the various disciplines (areas of knowledge, fields of study) you'll need to consult while working on your anthropology project. Take a look at the Reference Shelf at the Internet Public Library. Here, I'm going to ask you to spend a little time investigating several categories of information. There are about a dozen categories highlighted on the page. If you are asked to find information about the culture of a particular group of people, which categories would you investigate? Begin with the Social Sciences and work your through the Reference Shelf for other ideas. Keep the categories you identify in mind throughout the search process.
As you begin your search through our book collection, don't forget to check out the Library of Congress Subject Headings to give focus to your work.
B -- Philosophy & Religion
BC - Logic
BF - Psychology
BL - Mythology, Religion
C -- History and Auxiliary Sciences
CB - Civilization
CS - Genealogy
CT - Biography
D -- History & Historical Biographies
E-F -- American/Local History
G -- Geography
GN - Anthropology
GT - Manners and Customs
H -- Social Sciences
HM - Sociology
HQ - Family
HT - Communities
Another question to keep in mind is: what are the types of information that keep individual academic disciplines (subject areas) separate from one another? If you look in the library's reference area, you'll notice that each discipline has its own set of reference tools, such as dictionaries,encyclopedias and almanacs, which help to define that subject and keep it separate from others. Clearly, the differing terminology used by specialists in each area plays a large role in this process. Some reference books related to the field of anthropology are listed below.
The Dictionary of Human Geography, 3rd. ed. REF GF4 .D52 1994
Dictionary of Anthropology, by Charles Winick.REF GN11 .W5 1969
Encyclopedia of World Cultures REF GN307 .E53 1991
Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology REF GN307 .E52 1996
The Dictionary of Costume REF GT507 .W5
Keep this in mind throughout your research. As an example, you may want to consider how many terms you come upon in your reading that have specialized meanings unique to the particular field in which you are working.
Online Databases
A partial list of journal titles recommended for this project by your instructor can be viewed here. Not all of these titles are in the BHCC library. You may find some of these periodicals in citation and/or full text in some of our electronic databases. Checking title lists in electronic databases can be good practice to help you get comfortable with the way the vendor displays and organizes information. It will also help you to qualify the most appropriate databases for your project needs. WARNING: It will take a little investigating on your part to locate which titles are available in the BHCC library, in electronic format in the subscription databases, and at other area libraries. When considering an electronic database, look for a title or journal list icon and search out a few of the instructor's recommended journals.
The BHCC library subscribes to several online databases which can help you locate relevant articles for a cultural anthropology project.
For online resources, consider InfoTrac, a full text subcription database, for this and other projects From off campus, login by using your 14 digit ID number from the back of your BHCC ID card.
Select Expanded Academic ASAP and consider what this database has to offer relevant to your project.
Ethnic Newswatch is particularly relevant to anthropological issues covers 264 publications of the ethnic, minority and native press.
Now take a look at EBSCO. If you are off campus you'll need to enter your 14 digit ID number from the back of your BHCC ID card. In EBSCO you'll need to choose a database. Consider the differences among Academic Search Elite, Academic Search Premier, and MasterFile Premier to determine for yourself which one will serve you best for the activities related to this course.
Next we'll take a look at JSTOR, which is a database containing the backfiles (older issues) of over 50 scholarly journals. These journals may either be browsed individually or searched using text files. Since this resource is focused on backfiles, the most recent several years (usually 3-5 years) of any particular journal is not available using JSTOR. This resource makes available to the researcher almost one hundred years worth of articles, depending upon the start date of each individual journal.
To begin using JSTOR on the "Start JSTOR" screen, you can click on either "Browse the journals" or "Search JSTOR". "Browse the Journals" will allow you to see what journals are archived, view individual contents pages, and view individual citations or articles on a page-by page basis. "Search JSTOR" allows you to search the entire database by entering terms describing your area of interest. You can also limit your search by date, article type, and general subject area. If you don't specify a subject area before trying a search, you will be prompted to select one before continuing, so you should be sure to select the "Search all Anthropology Journals" option.
Don't overlook the Massachusetts Newsstand and Lexis/Nexis for full text newspaper articles Lexis/Nexis allows you to search current and back issues of the New York Times and a full range of newspapers and magazines. The full text versions of Lexis/Nexis and the Boston Globe databases are only available on computers connected to the Internet on the BHCC campus so plan your search time carefully.
Web Resources
Librarians' Internet Index: websites you can trust
http://libwww.cabrillo.edu/depts/anthropology.html - This is an excellent, brief listing of web resources on anthropology by the Cabrillo College Library in California, another community college.
http://www.contracosta.edu/library/sites/anthro.htm - Another excellent, but longer listing of web resources on anthropology by Contra Costa College Library in California, another community college.
http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/anth/soccult/internet.htm - An excellent, but somewhat intimidating listing of web resources on social and cultural anthropology by the University of Delaware Library
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/lehman/guides/cultanth.html - Another excellent, but somewhat intimidating, listing of web resources on cultural anthropology by Columbia University Libraries. (NOTE: This web page lists both books and databases, some of which you will NOT have access to via the BHCC Library. Check the BHCC catalog or database page to see if we have a resource that interests you)
http://cwis.org/fwj - This is an example of a journal which makes a good deal of its content available online on its website. As you proceed with your research on the web, you will see references to many websites associated with individual journals. Some of these sites offer only a table of contents for the current print issue. Others offer contents plus article abstracts, and others make the entire contents of the journal available online. This site for the Fourth World Journal, published by the Center for World Indigenous Studies, is an example of a site which provides most (but not all) of its content on its website.
Citing Information From Electronic Sources
After you have completed your research work, your final step will be to compile a list of the sources you used in producing it.
The Chicago Manual of Style is preferred by your instructor. We have the print copy in our reference collection. Information about this style is also available here:http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
For a good treatment of the same material available on the World Wide Web, check out the Duke University Libraries' Guide to citing sources.
Long Island University Library's excellent web pages on citation style are also worth a look at http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm
In addition to this relatively standard format, each academic discipline develops its own style for citation and bibliographic formats. To take a look at the particular style used in the field of anthropology, you can go to Citations and Bibliographic Style for Anthropology Papers, posted at the University of South Dakota Web site at the following web address: http://www.usd.edu/anth/handbook/bib.htm