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Literature Searching in Anthropology David Sowerbutts d.l.sowerbutts@durham.ac.uk
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Types of Material - Printed Monographs Encyclopaedias Other types of book (essays, readings, conferences) Journals Theses and Dissertations Newspapers and Magazines
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Controlling the Literature Bibliographies –Book form –Indexes –Abstracts Review Articles Current Awareness
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Some Titles to Consult Annual Review of Anthropology572(05) Annual Review of Sociology053.01 Levinson, D and Ember, M (1996). Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. 4 volumes. New York: Holt. Ref 572(03) Michie, J (ed) 2001. Readers Guide to the Social Sciences. 2 volumes. London: Fitzroy Dearborn.Ref 016.3 REA International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences. (2001) 26 volumes. Amsterdam: Elsevier. At present available online and at Ref 303 INT
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Types of Material - Electronic Abstracts and Indexes (Bibliographic Databases) Reference Books Electronic Journals Internet Resources
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Understanding Databases Subject Scope Inclusivity –Number of sources –Type of material –Level of material Date range Geographical bias
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Understanding Databases Search defaults Features provided –Abstracts? –Option to create subsets? –Printing/Saving/E-mailing? –Links to full text? –Links to local catalogue? Remember to use the help screens
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Databases (v. Internet) Refereed Material Restricted access Covers print as well as electronic (usually) More sophisticated searching
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Internet (v. Databases) Not evaluated Electronic/digitised Large number of items but some “quality” material not included Difficult to assess results of searches
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Databases: Getting Started Identify your ATHENS password –if necessary contact library.athens@durham.ac.uk Library home page –http://www.dur.ac.uk/library –click on Databases (guidance on selecting your database comes later)
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Database Searching Keyword Hierarchical Structure Coded Concepts
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Keyword Random –matches patterns not concepts Scope –Title only –Abstract –Full text Semantics –Ambiguities –Alternatives –Language problems
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Keyword Truncation (Stemming) –Aggress* Word combination –Usually Boolean
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Boolean Searching - Syntax Similar to formula in Mathematics BUT symbols not used as consistently BUT “default” values vary between databases
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Boolean Searching
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Refining Searches Taboo* and Asia* not (Burm* or Myanmar Racis* and Polic* not (London or Metropol*) Racis* and (Police or Policing) not (London or Metropol*)
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Hierarchical Structure Anthropology Ethnology Racial Groups South American Quechua
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Coded Concepts Usually a notation for a hierarchical structure –Arrangement of books in a Library –Application to databases (e.g. MedLine)
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Library OPAC Start Datec. 1500 Scope:Durham stock only Excludes journal articles Export records Subject terms Truncation*Wildcardx Phrase searchingx Boolean and/or/not - useoperators in normal form (default combination is “and”) Links to full-text: indirect
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Web of Science
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Start Date1981 Scope:All Subjects Abstracts:From early 1990s Export records Subject terms Truncation* Wildcard Phrase searching Boolean and/or/not - useoperators in normal form (default combination is phrase search) Links to full-text: some provided ATHENS authenticated
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IBSS
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Start Date1951 Scope:Social Anth/Economics/Politics/Sociology Abstracts:Recent years only Export records Subject terms Truncation*Wildcard Phrase searching Boolean and/or/not - useoperators in normal form (default combination is phrase search) Links to full-text: some provided ATHENS authenticated
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FirstSearch
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A collection of around 25 databases; more than one can be searched simultaneously Start Datevaries Scope:All Subjects Abstracts:in some databases Export records Subject terms: some d/bases Truncation*Wildcard Phrase searching (use quotation marks) Boolean and/or/not - useoperators in normal form (default combination is “and”) Links to full-text: no No password needed on site
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A results list (Web of Science)
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The Record (Web of Science)
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Internet Gateways/Portals Selected Unrestricted Electronic Resources Often classified May be evaluated/annotated SOSIG (http://sosig.ac.uk) See also other links from PINAKES (from Library’s “Subject Gateways” page)
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Newspapers May include current debate on some possible project topics Electronic archives for some available from Library’s “News, weather…” page Infotrac: Custom Newspapers provides multiple title searching
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