Outline of this guide: Reference Sources Articles Books & Videos

Related guides: RefWorks: A Guide Research Log Research Planner Scholarly Articles: How to Identify Them Web Resources: Evaluation

• Style Guides
  • Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003.
    Reference R 808.02 C53 2003
  • American Anthropological Association (AAA) Style Guide
    Note: the AAA Style Guide is based on the Chicago Manual of Style (see above.)
• Biographical Works
  • Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson, 2003- .
  • International Dictionary of Anthropologists. Ed. Christopher Winters. New York: Garland, 1991.
    Reference R 301 I611
  • Women Anthropologists: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Ute Gacs et al. New York: Greenwood, 1988.
    Reference R 925.7 W872
• Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
  • Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Ed. Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 2nd ed. 5 vols. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005.
    Reference R 909.04 A2581
  • Atlas of World Cultures: A Geographical Guide to Ethnographic Literature. Ed. David H. Price. New York: Sage, 1989.
    Reference R 912.13 P945a
  • Credo Reference
    A collection of over 250 online reference books. Useful for fact-checking and quick answers to questions. For more detailed information, be sure to search the Gale Virtual Reference Library too.
  • Dictionary of Anthropology. Ed. Thomas Barfield. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.
    Reference R 306 D554
  • Encyclopedia of African Peoples. New York: Facts on File, 2000.
    Reference R 305.8 E563
  • Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. Ed. David Levinson and Melvin Ember. 4 vols. New York: Henry Holt, 1996.
    Reference R 305.8 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Ed. Barbara A. Tenenbaum. 5 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1996.
    Reference R 980 E56
  • Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Ed. Alan Bernard and Jonathan Spencer. New York: Routledge, 1996.
    Reference R 305.8 E562
  • Encyclopedia of Women and Gender. Ed. Judith Worrell. 2 vols. New York: Academic Press, 2001.
    Reference R 305.4 E56
  • Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Ed. David Levinson. 5 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1991.
    Reference R 306 E56
  • Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook. David Levinson. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1998.
    Reference R 305.8 L665et
  • An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China. James S. Olson. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998.
    Reference R 951 O52e
  • Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Ed. Rudolph Vecoli. 2 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1995.
    Reference R 305.8 G151
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library
    A collection of over 120 electronic reference works. Includes:
    • Countries and their Cultures. Ed. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan, 2001.
      Reference R 306 C855
    • Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Ed. H. James Birx. 5 vols. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006.
    • Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Ed. Solomon H. Katz. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 2003.
      Reference R 394.1 E56
    • Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. Ed. David Levinson and Karen Christensen. 6 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2002.
      Reference R 950 L665e
    • The Encyclopedia of Modern Europe: Europe since 1914. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. 5 vols. Detroit, MI: Scribner's, 2006.
    • Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa. Ed. Philip Mattar. 2nd ed. 4 vols. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference, 2004.
      Reference R 956.03 E561 2004
    • Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. 15 vols. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference, 2005.
      Reference R 203 E562
    • International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family. Ed. James J. Ponzetti. 2nd ed. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan Reference, 2003.
      Reference R 306.8 I61
    • International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. 9 vols. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference, 2008.
    • New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Horowitz. 6 vols. Detroit, MI: Scribner's, 2005.
      Reference R 901.9 D554 2005
      The Library also has a copy of the first edition, the Dictionary of the History of Ideas, edited by Philip P. Wiener (5 vols.; New York: Scribner, 1973-1974), shelved in Reference at call number R 901.9 D554.
    • New Encyclopedia of Africa. Ed. John Middleton and Joseph Miller. 2nd ed. 5 vols. Detroit, MI: Scribner's, 2008.
    • ... and many more!
  • International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Ed. Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Bates. 26 vols. New York: Elsevier, 2001.
    Reference R 300.3 I611
  • Marriage, Family, and Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia. Gwen J. Broude. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1994.
    Reference R 306.8 B875m
  • The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. James Stuart Olson. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.
    Reference R 305.8 O52p
  • Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge. Ed. Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender. 4 vols. New York: Routledge, 2000.
    Reference R 305.4 R869
  • Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Timothy L. Gall. 4 vols. Detroit, MI: Gale, 1998.
    Reference R 305.8 W927

• Starting Points
  • Academic Search Premier
    (1975 to present) Indexes popular and scholarly articles in a broad range of subject areas; also includes citations to book reviews and citations to articles in several national newspapers.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  • LexisNexis Academic
    (Approx. 1980 to present) Includes the full text of articles from local, national, and international newspapers, magazines, and trade journals as well as articles from law reviews and federal and state cases.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an exclamation point
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use an asterisk *
  • OmniFile Full Text Mega
    (1982 to present) Indexes articles from over 3,000 scholarly and popular periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; also includes the full text of selected articles from over 1,650 of these periodicals.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks ""
    • Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?
  • Westlaw Campus Research
    Includes the full text of news articles and federal and state court cases.
    Note: you will need to accept the terms of the Westlaw "Agreement" before you can search Westlaw Campus Research.
    Search Syntax (for "Terms and Connectors" searches):
    • Truncation: use an exclamation point !
    • Phrase searching: use double quotations marks " "
    • Wildcard: use an asterisk *
• Core Resources for Anthropology
  • Annual Review of Anthropology
    (1972 to present) Contains the full text of review and overview articles on important topics in anthropology.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  • Anthropology Plus
    (Late 19th century to the present) Includes citations to journal articles, reports, edited works, and commentaries in the fields of biological, cultural, linguistic, physical, and social anthropology as well as archaeology, ethnology, folklore, and material culture. Combines Anthropological Literature and Anthropological Index from the Royal Anthropological Institute in London.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: insert a "w" between the words in a phrase (for example, "cold w war")
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
  • AnthroSource
    (1880 to present) Provides current issues of 15 American Anthropological Association (AAA) journals, including American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, and Cultural Anthropology, as well as an archive of selected back issues, with links to JSTOR where appropriate.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: automatic
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
  • Web of Knowledge
    (c. 1900 to present) A multidisciplinary resource that provides citations to articles in thousands of journals in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotations marks " "
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
• Other Resources
  Be sure to consult the library's indexes and databases pages, including the Anthropology page, too.
  • Contemporary Women's Issues
    (1992 to present) Indexes popular articles, scholarly articles, books, newsletters, and reports on all aspects of women's studies, including gender, sociology, education, political science, and health.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: automatic
    • Phrase searching: automatic
  • Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) Online
    (1935 to present) Indexes journal articles, books, book chapters, and conference papers covering topics related to Latin America; covers the fields of anthropology, archaeology, art, economics, geography, history, international relations, languages and literatures, music, philosophy, political science, and sociology.
  • HAPI (Hispanic American Periodicals Index) Online
    (1970 to present) Indexes journal articles, book reviews, and original literary works and covers the literature, history, culture, and politics of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, and the United States-Mexico border. Also covers works related to Hispanics in the United States.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: automatic
    • Phrase searching: automatic.
  • JSTOR
    Includes pdf copies of scholarly articles from a core collection of journals; also includes book reviews. Note:JSTOR does not contain articles from the most recent 3-5 years.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use a plus sign +
    • Phrase searching: automatic
  • Project Muse
    Contains full-text articles from journals published by university and scholarly presses.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
  • Social Sciences Abstracts
    (1907 to present) Indexes journal articles and some book reviews on all social sciences subjects, including history, political science, international relations, law, economics, area studies, gender studies, anthropology, psychology, and sociology.
    This database includes the content in the International Index to Periodicals (1907-1965).
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks ""
    • Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?
  • Sociological Abstracts
    (1963 to present) indexes journal articles in sociology and related fields, including anthropology, economics, education, philosophy, political science, and social psychology.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: automatic
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?

• To find books and videos at Davidson, search the following:
  • Library Catalog
    Includes information about books, videos, government documents, and journals, magazines, and newspapers in the Library.
    • To locate videos, do a keyword search and limit your search by the format "video materials (VHS/DVD)."
    • To locate appropriate Library of Congress Subject Headings, start with a keyword search and then browse records.
      Useful subject headings include:
      • Anthropology
      • Ethnology
      • Kinship
      • Manners and customs
      • Marriage customs and rites
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use a dollar sign $
    • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?
• To find information about books that might be available from other libraries, search the following:
  • WorldCat
    Lists books, videos, periodicals, and other materials held by libraries around the world. Search WorldCat to identify additional books on your topic and then order the books on interlibrary loan.
    Note: It can be helpful to identify relevant Library of Congress Subject Headings in the Library Catalogue first; you can then do a subject search in WorldCat to find additional items with these subject headings.
    Search Syntax:
    • Truncation: use an asterisk *
    • Phrase searching: insert a "w" between the words in a phrase (for example, "cold w war")
    • Wildcard: use a question mark ?