Anthropology 101

An example assignment for this course may be to locate a research article from an academic journal in the field of Anthropology. The best example of such an article should meet the following criteria:

• Written by an anthropologist: Others may write in the field, but anthopologists know best. If their credentials do not appear in the article, trying Googling their name and, if reported, their institution.
• A report on research, not a book review or editorial: Academic journals may include book reviews and editorials, but what you need is published findings on the research that the author conducted. Articles that report findings from fieldwork and/or original research are primary sources, while articles that analyze and compare previous research are secondary sources. Ideally, your article should be a primary source, but a secondary source may be helpful in identifying a good primary source.
• Interesting to you personally: There are so many topics within the scope of Anthropology that there is no need to torture yourself by reading something you don't care about!
• Readable: Real talk: scholarly literature is hard reading. All of these articles will be challenging, but if you are struggling to grasp even the basic concept of the article, consider finding something else. Look up unfamiliar terms in a subject dictionary (see below) as you work to master the vocabulary of anthropology.
• Recent research: Your article should have been in the last 10 years, or whatever your instructor provides as a cutoff date. This is not to say that old research is bad, but the likelihood of it becoming outdated or superseded by new findings grows the further back in time you go. Always check the date before you start reading!

When you're getting started, it may help to have a dictionary handy to define the terms you are learning. Try looking up the term in one of the following resources:

These resources are both online. No trip to the library required!