ANTH 371: Ethnographic Methods
Instructor: Dr. Lisa Markowitz, Lisam@louisville.edu,
(502)852-2426
Librarian: Terri Holtze, terri.holtze@louisville.edu,
(502)852-8739
Anthropology Sources
Abstracts in Anthropology (1970 to the present)
EKSTROM Ref. GN1 .A15
Indexes and provides summaries for several hundred periodicals
in the fields of archaeology, cultural and physical anthropology and linguistics.
Anthropological Literature (1979-83, 1989 to the present)
EKSTROM Ref. GN1 .A6533
Author and subject index of books and periodicals in the fields
of archaeology, biological and physical anthropology, cultural and social
anthropology, and linguistics. Related fields such as sociology, history,
ethnohistory, demography, geography, international development and human genetics
may also be included.
Full-text coverage of over 1500 sources published by more than 200 organizations around the world from 1992 to the present. Sources provide information dealing with women's issues in over 190 nations. (Responsive Database Services) 
Indexing and abstracts for over 8000 publications with full-text for over half of the publications. (EBSCOhost) 
eHRAF: Archaeology
eHRAF: World Cultures
"The Human Relations Area Files in World Cultures includes 250,000 pages of primary source material in ethnography, and the collection in Archeology covers more than 28 major archeological traditions with more than 40,000 pages of primary source material (including the full-text of journal articles, dissertations and manuscripts)." (Human Area Relations File)
Full-text database providing access to articles that appeared in 200 publications of the ethnic, minority and native press. 400,000+ complete articles dating back to 1990.
Includes 125 international publications plus reports, pamphlets, papers and conference proceedings devoted to women and gender issues. Archival material dating back to the mid 1970's.
Hispanic American Periodicals Index
Indexes articles and other materials covering information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region, and Hispanics in the United States. (HAPI)
Full-text articles from journals in a variety of disciplines, from the journals' first issues through the late 1990's. (Acrobat Reader needed to print.)
Catalog of items owned by the seven University
of Louisville Libraries.
Index to articles in the social sciences. (H.W. Wilson)
Social Sciences Citation Index
Indexes more than 1,725 journals spanning 50 disciplines in the social sciences. Includes and is searchable by references cited in each article. (ISI's Web of Science)
Abstracts to articles from 2,300 journals on all aspects of sociology.
(CSA)
Business & Economics Sources
To find information about an industry, try:
- Business and Company Resource Center
- Business and Industry
- Mergent Online
- Standard and Poor's Industry Surveys (HC 106.6.S74) located on Table 15 in Ekstrom Library reference area.
- Encyclopedia of American Industries (HC 102.E53) located on Table 15 in Ekstrom Library reference area.
Demographics USA
Ekstrom Library Reference Desk HF5415.1 .D45
Provides demographic information by county or zip code.
An index of economic literature. (CSA)
Index to Current Urban Documents
Includes full-text reports and research by local government agencies, civic organizations, academic and research organizations, public libraries, and metropolitan and regional planning agencies in approximately 500 selected cities in the United States and Canada. (Greenwood Electronic Media)
National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States
Ekstrom Library Reference Desk HD2425 .D53
"Lists over 7400 trade associations, professional societies, labor unions, and similar groups." Entries include contact information, number of members, budget estimates, staff information, meeting/conferences, historical notes, and publications, if applicable.
Over 7500 economic research working papers. (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Includes a cross-section of general periodicals, ABI/INFORM business periodicals, and several national newspapers in full-text. (ProQuest)
Directory database of over 12,000,000 U.S. businesses and organizations.
Statistical & Other Sources
Center for Immigration Studies
Contains statistical data produced by the U.S. government; important international intergovernmental organizations; professional and trade organizations, business organizations, commercial publishers, independent research organizations, state government agencies, and universities. (Lexis-Nexis)
U.S. Census Bureau
- American Factfinder -- Browsable and searchable, the American Factfinder provides access to Census Bureau data on population, housing, economic, and geographic information to create tables, reports, and maps. Data sets are listed by program area (census or survey) and year. The site also includes a tutorial.
- United States Foreign-Born Population
Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (Department of Homeland Security)
Research Tips
- Define your research need. Try to answer these questions about your project:
- What is your topic? Try to state your topic as a question. This will help direct your research towards finding the answer to your question.
- What are the key concepts behind this topic?
- Do these concepts have synonyms or related terms?
- What types of resources do you need? (This could include journal articles, books, videos, Internet sites, statistics, etc.)
- Look for resources.
- Use the subject areas in the Subject Guides page [http://library.louisville.edu/top/subjects.html] to help you locate appropriate article databases, print resources and Internet sites for your topic.
- You will probably need to use more than one resource or subject area.
- Ask a librarian which database would be the best for your topic. There are over 200 databases and the librarian can save you a lot of effort by starting you off in a good source.
- Organize your research.
- Keep track of sources you use. This will help you to go back to a good source easily and help you to avoid duplicating your efforts later. A good way to do this is to use a notebook or note cards and make an entry for each item you use with its citation and call number.
- Anytime you copy/print from a source make sure to get all of the citation information. One of the biggest time wasters is having to look up your sources again to find a missing piece of the citation. [Citation = the information that helps to relocate a source. For an article this would include: author, title of article, title of journal, date, volume and issue numbers, and the page numbers.]
- Evaluate your sources.
- Finding the most reliable sources of information is part of the research process. Your professors do care where you get your information and using questionable sources can have a negative effect on your grade.
- Whether your source is an Internet site or a print source, think about
these five evaluation criteria:
- Accuracy - are the facts verifiable in another source?
- Authority - who wrote the material and what are the author's qualifications for writing on this topic?
- Objectivity - what biases might the author have?
- Currency - when was the material gathered, when was it published, has it been updated?
- Coverage - what information is included, what related information is not included?
Tip: Research takes a lot of time even for expert researchers. Start early and give yourself plenty of time to work with the resources and to anticipate inevitable delays (like broken copiers and missing items.)