Cabrillo College Library

Preliminary thoughts

Selecting a culture

Books

Encyclopedia

Periodical articles

Web resources

Videos

Reference books

Insert an image

Writing citations

Google Earth -- see where your culture lives!

To get to this page on the Internet

 

Images are from Corbis.com

 

name_____________________________

Before we get started -- The World at Night || Prudhoe Bay || Egypt

Go to the Web page for this class

  1. From the Cabrillo College Library homepage, click on Internet Links,
  2. Click on Anthropology,
  3. Scroll down and under Course-Related Materials, click on ANTHRO 2, M. Merrill

Make this page a Favorite. Towards the top of your screen, click on , then on Add to Favorites. When you want to get back to this page during this class, just click on . (I may have done this before your class comes -- click on Favorites to see!)

Some preliminary thoughts about your research adventure

In the early stages of research, you will want to explore what kinds of information and analysis there is on your topic. This helps you shape your topic. You don't want your topic focus to be so narrow that there is insufficient information on it. You don't want your topic focus to be so broad that you drown in too many resources and ideas. You need a topic that is "just right."

Here are some things to check out:
1. Are there books about that culture? Use the online library catalog. Use NetLibrary eBooks.
2. Is there an encyclopedia article about the culture? a) Use the online Encyclopaedia Britannica. b) Use reference books about culture groups. c) Use Credo Reference.
3. Are there periodical articles about the culture you want to research? Use an online periodical database, such as Academic Search Premier
4. Are there quality Web resources about the culture? Use Google. And Google books.
This worksheet will take you through those steps.
Selecting a culture group to research

If you don't already have names of culture groups in mind and what to focus on, these resources will help you find some.

Use some resources about countries:

  • Country Studies -- from Library of Congress
  • CountryWatch -- an online database of extensive information about countries of the world. Indigenous groups are covered in varying detail. To get to CountryWatch:
    1. Go to the Cabrillo College Library homepage
    2. Click on Full Text Articles (second icon down on left)
    3. Click on CountryWatch (second one listed under Encyclopedia/Background Information,
      in center). If you are coming in from off campus, you need to enter your library card number
You can also explore these:
  • Culture -- from the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
  • Portals to the World -- from Library of Congress
Notes about what you find________________________________________________

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Does the library have books?
  1. Go to the Cabrillo College Library homepage
  2. Click on Library Catalog (first icon on left)
  3. Click to do a Keyword search
Type in your culture name(s). If you don't find anything, type in indigenous people for works about more than one culture group in a region. Another term to try is native cultures.

You can also refer to the handout that lists books (print and online) in the Cabrillo College Library on specific culture groups. Just ask me for it.

Notes about what you find________________________________________________

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Electronic books The library has about 18,000 electronic books. You can search inside the books for the occurence of words. To get to them

  1. Go to the Cabrillo College Library homepage
  2. Click on Full Text Articles
  3. Under General, click on NetLibrary E-Books
If you are coming in from off campus, you'll type in your library card number to gain access.
Notes about what you find________________________________________________

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Does the Encyclopaedia Britannica have an article?
  1. Go to the Cabrillo College Library homepage
  2. Click on Full Text Articles (second icon on left)
  3. Click on Encyclopaedia Britannica (under Encyclopedias/Background Information, in center)
  4. Type your search terms into the SEARCH box

    Notes about what you find________________________________________________

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During the class session, Encyclopedia of World Cultures, plus some other resources, will be on a book truck in the classroom. Otherwise, find it in the reference collection under this call number:
ref GN550.E53

The information in this encyclopedia is based on the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University. If you go up to UCSC's library, you can use the full Human Relations Area Files.

Are there good periodical articles?

Here's a sample search

  1. Go to the Cabrillo College Library homepage <http://libwww.cabrillo.edu>
  2. Click on Full Text Articles (second icon down, on left)
  3. Click on Academic Search Premier (top left, under General) (If you are coming in from off campus, you'll be asked for your library card number)
  4. Click to go to Advanced Search

Click to limit your search to full text documents. You can also click to limit the search to academic journals.

Here's a search for articles about music and anthropology and India or Indian. The asterisk ( * ) means that words beginning the letters preceeding it are searched.

Click on the article title. Then, note where you can click to print, email, even cite the article!!

Use Academic Search Premier to find articles on your culture.

Notes about what you find________________________________________________

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Academic Search Premier will be your primary database for high quality articles on your culture. Google Scholar, though, is also becoming an important resource. When Google finds something on the Web and thinks it is a periodical article (it uses a computer algorithm to look for tell-tale signs such as volume, issue, and page numbers, etc.), then it throws it into Scholar. Some, but not all, of these articles will be available to you full text. Here's a sample search:

Scholar is at scholar.google.com or go to google.com and click on More to get to it.

Notes about what you find________________________________________________

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Are there good quality Web resources?

The quality and usefulness of Web resources varies a good deal. Some useful criteria to use forevaluative purposes are:

Accuracy Authority Objectivity Currency Coverage

Evaluating Internet Resources

Some new things to know about Google Google now uses what they call universal search -- results draw from across their databases, and you'll be alerted if there are substantial resources in Google databases other than the one you're using.

For example, here's a search for resources about the Maoris in Google's Web index:

Google groups the results for you -- click on Show options to see those groupings. Try clicking on Wonder wheel -- Google will suggest new, more specific topics you can use. Cool!!

Google is digitizing millions of books. You can go directly to books.google.com. There is a little video about what they are using to do the digitization. If you use books.google.com, try limiting your search to Full view only or Limited preview and full view. You can also limit by date. If you don't see how to do that, ask!!

Notes about what you find________________________________________________

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Just couldn't resist -- There is a new European resource that is offering digitized books, videos, images, and sounds. It's called Europeana -- http://europeana.eu/ It's pretty amazing, and they are only getting started!!

Videos

There are many sources of videos on the Web these days. You probably use YouTube. But, largest resource with quality commercial videos (not home made) is

Go to Blinkx and look for videos on your culture. There are 275 videos at Blinkx about the Cayman Islanders! How many for your culture? _____________

To watch a video on a computer in the classroom, hold down the Ctrl key (bottom left part of your keyborad) when you click to go to it. (You have to disable the pop-up blocker.)

Reference books

As you research your various topics, e.g., food or economic issues, that relate to your culture, you may find some of these reference books very useful.

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers, ed. by Richard B. Lee and Richard Daly. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Location: Reference GN388.C35 1999

Dictionary of Native American Literature, by Andrew Wiget, editor. Location: Reference PM155 .D53 1994

Encyclopedia Latina : History, Culture, and Society in the United States, by Ilan Stavans, editor in chief. Location: Reference E184.S75 E587 2005

Encyclopedia of African History and Culture, by Willie F. Page, editor, revised edition by R. Hunt Davis, Jr. Location: Reference DT3 .P27 2005

Encyclopedia of African Peoples, by the Diagram Group. Location: Reference DT15 .E53 2000

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, edited by Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, Cornel West. Location: Reference E185 .E54 1996

Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, edited by Edward L. Davis. Location: Reference DS779.23 .E53 2005

Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor in chief ; William Woys Weaver, associate editor. Location: Reference GT2850 .E53 2003

Encyclopedia of Japan: Japanese History and Culture, From Abacus to Zori, by Dorothy Perkins. Location: Reference DS805 .P47 1991

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, Barbara A. Tenenbaum, editor in chief. Location: Reference F1406 .E53 1996

Encyclopedia of Religion, by Lindsay Jones, editor in chief. Location: Reference BL31 .E46 2005

Hispanic Culture of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, edited by Peter Standish. Location: Reference F1234 .H794 1996

Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism, editor Wang Ke-wen. Location: Reference DS779.23 .M54 1998

Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism, editor, James L. Huffman. Location: Reference DS805 .M63 1998

The Muslim Almanac: A Reference Work on the History, Faith, Culture, and Peoples of Islam, by Azim A. Nanji, editor. Location: Reference BP40 .M83 1996

You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions, by Thelma Barer-Stein. Location: Reference GT2850 .B37 1999

Inserting an image into a Word document

The Web is rich in images. You'll want to know how to copy an image from the Web and insert it into a Word document.

Go to Corbis.com. Search for and select an image.

To insert an image into a Word document:

  1. From the Start menu bring up Word
  2. Go back to Corbis where your image is. Right click on the image. Scroll down to Copy
  3. Go to your Word document. Position your cursor to where you want your image to be. Paste the picture (File -> Paste; or, use Ctl V)
  4. Under (or near) the image, type the word Source and include the title of the Web site where you got the image (in this case, Corbis.com) and its URL.

Your image is there. Word is not PhotoShop (an expensive software program for altering images) -- you can't really "doctor up" your image, but you can do some manipulations.

You can write next to and below the image. To put text around the image -- click on the image, go to Format -> Picture. Click on Layout tab, and select the wrapping format you want. You can also, you'll note, change the size and do some other minor alterations.

Writing citations

Now that you have found all this wonderful stuff, how do you cite it?

To get to style guides: from the Cabrillo College Library homepage, click on Internet Links, then click on Style Guides.

Remember that in periodical and other databases, there will probably be a way to get an already formatted citation with one click, which you can then copy and paste.

For books, use Worldcat.org. Once you get a record for a book, then click on Cite/Export.

Google Earth

All of the computers in the classroom have Google Earth. Click on Start - > Programs and bring up Google earth to see the environmental conditions and geography that surround your culture.

To get to this page on the Internet
  1. Go to the Cabrillo College Library homepage <http://libwww.cabrillo.edu>
  2. Click on Internet Links
  3. Click on Anthropology
  4. Under Course-Related Materials, click on ANTHRO 2, Introduction to Anthropology: Cultural, M. Merrill.

 

M. Merrill, T. N. Smalley, last rev. 3/2010