Search this site
Subject Guides‎ > ‎

Biological Anthropology

BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
ANTH205
 
 

Starting Your Research

  • Identify the main concepts of your topic.
  • Think of synonyms, broader terms and narrower terms. 
  • Browse the stacks in your topic’s call number area(s).  Use the pink “Library of Congress Classification System” handout to identify what call number(s) your topic falls under.

Finding reference books

Reference books provide an overview of a topic; they also provide links to other sources for more specific research.  Most reference books on anthropology are located in the GN call number section.  The following reference books are encyclopedias and dictionaries on anthropology.  These are great places to begin your research – look in the index and/or the table of contents to find your topic. 

 
  • Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology: Humanity, Culture and Social Life                  REF GN 25 C65 1994                                  
  • History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia (2 vols)                                                 REF GN 50.3 H57 1997                                                     
  • The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution                                                               REF GN 281 C345 1992                   
  • Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory                                                                REF GN 281 E53 2000
  • Human                                                                                                                                    REF GN 281 H843 2004
  • From Lucy to Language                                                                                                         REF GN 281 J57 1996
  • The Encyclopedia of Evolution                                                                                              REF GN 281 M53 1990
  • The Dictionary of Anthropology                                                                                            REF GN 307 D485 2005                    
 


Finding books – using the library catalog

Search the library catalog for books and other library materials on your topic that you can check out.  

 

  • Begin with a basic search of your topic.  If you find a title that looks promising, search for similar books by clicking the highlighted subjects in the catalog record.   
  • Use “and” to combine terms:  anthropology and genetics
  • Put quotes around phrases:   "human variation"
  • Once you find a book, look in the table of contents and/or the index to find specific chapters/pages on your topic.

*remember*  If the catalog says that a book is at Ft. Steilacoom, you can request to have it sent to Puyallup.  Click the “request item” button and follow directions.  If you want a book from another library, talk to a reference librarian to have it ordered through interlibrary loan (ILL).  Please keep in mind that ILL can take up to two weeks--don't wait until the last minute to make an ILL request!



Finding articles – using the library databases
Periodical databases contain thousand of articles from the popular press (newspapers and magazines) and the academic press (scholarly journals).  ProQuest and EBSCOhost Academic Search Complete have articles from popular and academic periodicals. 

 

  • Begin with a keyword search of your topic.  Use the Suggested Topics (ProQuest) or Narrow Results by Subject (EBSCO ASC) search features to find additional articles using different keywords.
  • The first results are the most recent; make sure you browse several pages of results or change the sort to relevance to change the order of your results.
  • You can also sort your results by type of periodical: magazines, newspapers or scholarly/academic journals.
  • Make sure your article is not just a book review!
  • To access databases from off-campus, login with your student ID number and last name.
*remember*  If an article you need is not available full-text or located at the library, we can get it for you from another library through interlibrary loan.  ILL can take up to two weeks, so don’t wait until the last minute to make a request!


FINDING WEBSITES

Before you begin searching for sources on the Internet, think about how this information might differ from what you find in print sources.  Are there reasons why the information might be on the Internet rather than in a journal or book?  Are these reasons important?  When looking at websites, make sure to check the following before deciding to use it:

  • Authority – is there contact information for the author?  Is there an author listed?  What are the credentials of the author?  What is the author’s agenda or viewpoint?  Who sponsors the website: a university, company, organization?
  • Content – what is the purpose of the site: to sell, inform, persuade?  Does the information differ a lot from information found in books and articles?  Heavily biased websites that claim to be objective (and at first glance, appear to be so) are common on the Internet.  Are there a lot of spelling, grammatical or just sloppy errors? 
  • Currency – when was the site last updated?  Are the links still working?
  • Domain – is the site from an educational institution (.edu)? company (.com)? non-profit organization (.org)? government (.gov)? military (.mil)?

From the library’s homepage, click the Web Sites link on the left.  This will bring you to a collection of websites that the reference librarians at Pierce College have collected in all types of subject areas.  They are reputable, accurate and current.  If you need/want good websites on your topic, look here first.

 

*remember*  If you have any questions or need help with your research, please ask a librarian at the reference desk, post a message on our Library chat, or call us at 253-840-8302.