Anthropology: Home

Identify and Develop a Topic

Selecting a research topic is much like deciding on a travel destination. Once you have narrowed your ideas to an interesting subject, write down a brief statement about this topic. For example: "Rock groups of the 60s, their popularity and major influence on the music industry."  Once the topic is selected, write down specific questions that you'll want to answer. The research process will drive your destination. Your original topic may develop into something entirely different. You may choose to follow an alternate path and go down a different road.

Find Background Information

After determining the topic, you can map out your route. You must identify the types of sources that will provide the information needed, then determine where to find these sources. Types of sources that should be considered include books, periodicals, the Internet, and other libraries (through interlibrary loan).

The key to finding books is the online library catalog called Discovery.  Search in Discovery by selecting a keyword that best describes your topic. You can also search by title, author, subject, or keyword. In addition to books, the catalog allows you to search for periodicals, government documents, audiovisual material, and Special Collections.   

 If you get lost during your sight-seeing trip, stop and ask directions. The following reference sources will be most useful to acquire quick answers to any questions you may have.

•  Begin with Encyclopedias, then to get off the main drag, use Subject Encyclopedias.

•  What does it mean?  Use a Dictionary.       

•  How much, how many?  Find Statistical Information.

•  Who?  Find Biographical Information.

•  How can I get in touch?  Use a Directory.

•  Where do I go from here?  Bibliographies.

Find Journal Articles

Periodicals include newspapers, magazines, and journals. They are published regularly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly. Journals are periodicals containing articles written by experts in a particular field of study. If the researcher wrote the article, is it a primary source. If reporters write the article, such as in popular magazines, it is a secondary source. Typically, journal articles contain extensive bibliographies that lead to additional sources.

Journal List - If there is a specific journal that you are looking for, this will take you directly to McFarlin's holdings.

Discovery - If there is a specific article that you are looking for, you can search Summon with that article's title.

Database List - If you don't have a specific journal or article in mind, then McFarlin's databases will allow you to search multiple journals with a keyword.

Ethnographic Analyses

A number of anthropology courses require students to engage in ethnographic analysis. You will collect ethnographic data (through participant observation and interviewing) and analyze this data for any patterns and cultural meanings that emerge. You will then write up rich ethnographic
description, or detailed physical descriptions of the places and people involved, as well as descriptions of how people behave and interact. Often, assignments will ask you to connect the ethnographic data you’ve created to scholarly literature on related topics; thus you will be expected to conduct a search of relevant scholarly literature through the library and its electronic databases.

So what kinds of things might be used as evidence or data in an ethnography (or in your discussion of an ethnography someone else has written)? Here are a few of the most common:

1. Things said by informants (people who are being studied or interviewed). When you are trying to illustrate someone’s point of view, it is very helpful to appeal to their own words. In addition to using verbatim excerpts taken from interviews, you can also paraphrase an informant’s response to a particular question.
2. Observations and descriptions of events, human activities, behaviors, or situations.
3. Relevant historical background information.
4. Statistical data.

Remember that “evidence” is not something that exists on its own. A fact or observation becomes evidence when it is clearly connected to an argument in order to support that argument. It is your job to help your reader understand the connection you are making: you must clearly explain why statements x, y, and z are evidence for a particular claim and why they are important to your overall claim or position.

This is one example of how one professor wants his class to construct an ethnography paper. Always follow the instructions of your professor.