The following tips are not exhaustive of searching ethnographies, but rather tailored to the needs of your ANTH 146 term paper.
1) Finding ethnographies in the library catalog, OneSearch:
- There is not a specific Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) for ethnographies in the catalog. Subject headings act much like hashtags on social media, allowing items on similar topics to be grouped together.
- Try searching with the following phrases to locate ethnographies: "Social life and customs" | "case studies" | "ethnology" | "ethnograph*" (the asterisk will search for ethnography, ethnographic)
- If relevant, identify the subject heading for the name of the group or culture you are researching. The same applies if you are searching for a cultural event or activity. Keywords will still work, but subject terms can omit results that are likely not relevant.
- For example, the subject heading for American Indians is "Indians of North America," and "Navajo Indians" is the correct Library of Congress Subject Heading, not Navajos or Navajo People.
- For example, if you are researching the anthropology of clothing, you may find it beneficial to use the subject term(s) you find for the event or activity. One subject heading is "clothing and dress" for this topic
- Once you have the name of the group, culture, or subject you're researching, build your search with that name plus the phrase "social life or customs" (or "case studies" or "ethnology)
- Many books you will likely have to at least look at the author and summary to determine whether it is an ethnography, if not the book itself. One thing you can do is Google the author to see if they are an anthropologist. When in doubt, ask a librarian or your professor.
2) Finding Ethnographies using the Anthropology Plus database:
- Ethnography is a subject heading in this database. To search, enter your keywords in the search bar and the the word "ethnography."
- Note: This database is an index, meaning that it only will show you citation information. You will likely have to select "Find Full Text" once in the record to see if we have the full-text available in another database, or request it via InterLibrary Loan.
4) Work backwards by starting from Google to find anthropologists researching in an area that aligns with your own research.
- Go to Google and type in site:.edu anthropology [your topic] - for example - site:.edu anthropology workplace culture or site:.edu anthropology Southeast Asia - these searches will return results from only .edu addresses (as many anthropologists work at universities where the webpage will have a .edu link) and will likely pull from the department of anthropology at that institution. The search will also ensure your keywords show up. Then, you can look at their CV (the academic form of a resume) to see if they have published an ethnography within that region and/or related to that topic.
