LibGuides: Anthropology: A Guide to Library Research: Overview

Welcome to the Anthropology Research Guide!

This guide will help you to find quality information regarding the various areas of anthropology. Let us know if you need additional help!

Frequently Used Databases

AnthroSource This link opens in a new window
This is the best and easiest to use of the databases that only covers anthropological topics.

Annual Review of Anthropology
Covers significant developments in the subfields of Anthropology, including archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics and communicative practices, regional studies and international anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology.

Humanities Collections on EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
This database covers all aspects involving humanity, so it is fairly wide in scope. You can filter by full text and peer review.
Includes these collections:
- Essay and General Literature Index: 1985-present. Archaeology, architecture, art, children's literature, classical studies, drama, economics, fiction, film , folklore, history, linguistics, music, poetry, political science, religion, women's studies.
- Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984: Covers a broad range of subject coverage in the humanities and social sciences with high-quality indexing of more than 1,300,000 articles in nearly 1,100 periodicals, dating as far back as 1907, as well as citations of over 240,000 book reviews.
- Humanities Abstracts: Detailed indexing for almost 700 periodicals covering the humanities—of which 470 are peer-reviewed—dating as far back as 1984, including feature articles, interviews, bibliographies, obituaries, and original works of fiction, drama, poetry and book reviews, as well as reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, radio and television programs, plays, operas, and more.
- Humanities Full Text: 1984-present. Covers archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, food, journalism, linguistics, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion, space, world history, world literature.
- Humanities Source: Covers literary, scholarly and creative thought. It provides full text, indexing, and abstracts for the most noted scholarly sources in the humanities.
Anthropological Index Online This link opens in a new window
This database is fairly clunky to use but it strictly covers anthropology.
The Anthropological Index Online (AIO) is published by the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) in cooperation with Anthropology Library and Research Centre at the British Museum. It is an index to articles in journals taken by the Library, which incorporates the former RAI holdings, covering all branches and areas of anthropology. In addition, AIO includes journals and periodicals of anthropological interest that are not in the Library’s catalogues. Films held at the Royal Anthropological Institute are equally indexed as part of the bibliography. The Library holds some 4,000 periodical titles (1,500 current). Nearly 650 journals, published in more than 40 languages, are indexed on a continuing basis. Records cover 1957 to the present.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Easy to search general purpose databases. Most of the content is 3 years or older.
Mostly 3-5 years & older full text. African American studies, anthropology, botany, business, ecology, economics, education, general science, geography, history, language & literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, sociology, statistics.

Dates of coverage vary by journal title. All go back to the very first issue published, but most have a "moving wall" embargo that excludes issues from the most recent X years (where X can be anywhere from 0 up to 10 years, depending on the particular journal; most are in the 3 to 5 year embargo range).

Hint: Use documents to find useful keywords and concepts, and retrieve matching JSTOR content, via JSTOR Text Analyzer.