ANTH 484: Wealth and Poverty

APA format

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:56:16 -0700

Your citations need to be in APA (American Psychological Association) format. You can find help with this on this page from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL), APA Formatting and Style Guide

Identifying Scholarly/Peer Reviewed Sources

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:17:42 -0700

Using research that has been evaluated by other experts in the field (peer reviewed or refereed) is an efficient way of finding research of value. Some ways to identify if the research is peer-reviewed:

Use the database: some databases consist entirely (or almost entirely) of peer-reviewed literature (for example: Sociological Abstracts, Abstracts in Anthropology, ERIC, PsycInfo)
Many databases allow you to LIMIT your search to peer-reviewed or scholarly literature (the EBSCOhost databases like Academic Search Premier for example)
Check journal's entry in Ulrich's (reference books located at the Reference Desk)
Check the journal's editorial policy statement for an explicit statement (generally small print at the front of the issue, or visit the journal's web page). Look for a list of editors, which can be an implicit indication of peer review.
Ask a librarian for assistance

Other ways to identify scholarly articles:

Look for common characteristics of scholarly works, such as
- easily identifiable author names and affiliations
- an abstract, introduction, methodology, conclusions
- citation of others' works
- a complete list of references
Determine if article is written by a scholar in the field for other researchers (rather than the general public)

The University of Arizona Library has a web page and tutorial on identifying the differenced between popular and scholarly articles at http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/scholarly/guide.html

Notes on "Ethnography"

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:44:42 -0700

According to anthropologist Charles Winick (Dictionary of Anthropology, 1970), ethnography is

The study of individual cultures ... primarily a descriptive and noninterpretive study.

Ethnology is defined as

the study of culture on a comparative basis ... often called cultural anthropology. Ethnology is distinguised from ethnography as being more inclined toward theory and the comparative study of institutions.

When looking for books in the library catalog by subject, you should be aware that the Library of Congress Subject Headings (the classification system used by OSU Libraries) does not distinguish between ethnography and ethnology. All books on the subjects are classified as ethnology. Here is the entry:

Ethnography -- See Ethnology.
Here, with appropriate local subdivision, are entered works on the discipline of ethnology, and works on the origin, distribution, and characteristics of the elements of the population of a particular region or country. Theoretical works on the concept of groups of people who are bound together by common ties of ancestry and culture are entered under Ethnic groups. Works on the subjective sense of belonging to an individual ethnic group are entered under Ethnicity. General works on racial, religious, ethnic, or other minority groups are entered under Minorities.

Background Information

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:18:56 -0700

Here are some suggestions for finding background information on your subject.

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology GN307 .E52 1996 (Valley, 6th floor )

Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology GN307 .E525 1998eb (This is available as an eBook, accessible online.)

Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life GN333 .W67 1998 (Valley, 6th floor)

Internet

Wikipedia is often a good place to look for background information. Be sure to carefully evaluate the resources; because it is structured as a wiki, anyone can add to or change the entries, and incorrect information may find its way into your article. Look for linked citations for verification.

(For more on evaluating web resources see "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly: or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources" by Susan Beck, New Mexico State University Library)

News

LexisNexis Academic one of our databases, is a comprehensive index to national and international newspaper and magazine articles, as well as radio and TV news program transcripts.

Alternative Press Index As a supplement to LexisNexis, check this database that indexes the alternative press. Includes nearly 290 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines that report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political and social change.

Finding Articles

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:19:30 -0700

Use databases, found under the QuickLinks on the OSU Libraries' home page, to locate articles, reports and (sometimes) book chapters. If the full-text of the article does not appear in the database, check the OSU Libraries catalog for a print or electronic subscription. In many of the databases you can use the "360 Link to Full Text" button to discover options for obtaining the article, such as in another database or using Interlibrary Loan.

Other options: OSU Libraries allows linking to our databases and e-journals through Google Scholar. This is not 100% accurate, and we strongly recommend searching our databases directly in addition, but this can be a good place to start your search.To see the links to OSU when you aren't on the campus network, be sure to go into "Scholar Preferences" on Scholar and add Oregon State University Libraries into the Library Links box.

The following databases are useful for finding articles in anthropology, ethnography, and other social sciences. Find many more Research Databases under "Quicklinks" on the library home page.

Ethnography Assignment: Library Research

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:19:52 -0700

As part of your ethnography assignment, you will need to incorporate at least two outside sources.

These must be from peer reviewed journals, edited volumes, or books in anthropology or a related social science
You may use web resources, periodicals, and other sources for background information, but not include them as your outside sources.

Finding Books

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:43:28 -0700

Use online catalogs to find books (as well as journals, multimedia, maps, and other library materials) at OSU & elsewhere.

1. Start with OSU Libraries Catalog: searches for books located at Valley Library and OSU's other libraries.

2. Next try Summit Catalog: searches our partner libraries in Oregon & Washington (indicated as Held by: Summit). Also searches other library holdings throughout the world (indicated as Held by: WorldCat Libraries). If OSU does not have the item and it is located in a Summit library, you may request it be delivered to OSU (takes about 3 business days).

3. Finally, If Summit doesn't have it we'll find a library that does-just click the Request from Interlibrary Loan button.

Search tip: Summit lets you access some journal articles. But mostly you will need to find these in databases.

Other Options: Google Book Search searches within indexes and texts of books. How much of the book you see depends on the copyright status, and on how much of their copyrighted work that authors and publishers who participate in the program will allow. For many items you can click on "Find this book in a library" to see if OSU owns a copy.This is not a complete catalog, so please check OSU and Summit catalogs, too.