Guide to Anthropology Resources

Article Indexes for Anthropology

Anthropology does not have a single comprehensive index that covers all subfields. None of these indexes is comprehensive, although there is considerable overlap between them. For a thorough literature search, you should check both Anthropology Plus and IBSS, as well as any specialized indexes that relate to your topic. Be aware that all of these databases use different indexing methods, and you may have to modify your search for each one to get good results.

• Anthropology Plus
  
  This database searches the following two indexes simultaneously: Anthropological Literature and Anthropological Index.
  
  
  • Anthropological Literature is produced at the Tozzer Library, Harvard. Covers archeology, folklore, art, genetics, biological anthropology, geography, cultural anthropology, geology, demography, physical anthropology, economics, psychology, ethnohistory, and social anthropology, from the late 19th century to the present.
    
    
  • Anthropological Index (Royal Anthropological Institute) covers 1957 to the present. Covers physical anthropology, archeology, cultural ethnography, and linguistics. Entries are compiled from journals in the Library of the British Museum's Department of Ethnography, which includes the former Royal Anthropological Institute library. Coverage of Commonwealth countries and Africa is especially good.
  
  
• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
  
  Produced at the London School of Economics and Political Science, this interdisciplinary database covers anthropology, sociology, economics, and political science. It is especially useful for interdisciplinary topics and for European publications.
  
  
• Bibliography of Native North Americans
  
  Indexes literature about native peoples of North America published from the sixteenth century to the present, from Alaska through the northern boundary of Mesoamerica. Indexed by subject, ethnographic region, and ethnic group. There are 17 broad regions comprising 290 ethnic groups.
  
  
• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts
  
  Covers all aspects of linguistics, including anthropological linguistics, from 1973 to the present. The MLA International Bibliography also covers linguistics, including many references to works on American Indian languages.
  
  
• Zoological Record
  
  A very valuable resource for research in primatology and paleoanthropology but does not include the bioanthropology of modern humans.
  
  
• Biological Abstracts
  
  For bioanthropology, forensics, and nutrition, this index covers more journals than Anthropology Plus. Includes abstracts.
  
  
• Agricola and Medline are both useful for ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology topics.

Literature Reviews

• Annual Review of Anthropology is a good place to get an overview of recent work and current issues in a topic area. This link includes full text from 1970 onwards. Back issues (1972--1998) are also available online in JSTOR.

Finding Dissertations

• AAA Guide (Reference, GN43.12 G84) contains an annual list of PhD dissertations completed that year in anthropology.
• Dissertation Abstracts indexes U.S. doctoral dissertations from 1861. Entries from 180 onward include abstracts online. For abstracts of earlier dissertations, use the print version of DAI in the Reference Services Department of the Main Library (1942 to 1979).
  
  How to obtain dissertations:
  
  
  • The entire texts of IU dissertations from 1997 on are available for downloading to IUB students, faculty and staff at no cost. Keep in mind that many dissertations are very long documents (this affects your print quota).
  • IU dissertations are also available in the library and can be checked out.
  • Most dissertations in this database are available for purchase from UMI (the publisher/producer of the database)
  • Most dissertations can also be borrowed from other libraries at no cost through interlibrary loan (Document Delivery Services).

Citation Indexes and Current Awareness Tools

• Web of Knowledge/Web of Science covers the literature of science, the social sciences, and the arts and humanities. Unlike other indexes, in the Web of Science you can search not only article titles and abstracts, but also their bibliographies. You can also trace articles that cite a particular work. However, not even this index is comprehensive! In the Web of Knowledge section, you can save searches of jornal tables of contents and receive periodic email updates when new content is found.
  
  
• Ingenta indexes over 26,000 English language periodicals, with full-text links to selected e-journals. With "My Ingenta," you can set up a free current awareness alerting account, which delivers journal contents information to you via email. After setting up a personal registration, you can submit up to 50 journal title requests (called "my table of contents") and up to 25 keyword search requests (called "my research alerts"). Journal contents are e-mailed as received; keyword searches are run weekly against new database content. For a handy list of web resources and a list of the journals that Ingenta covers, click on "Social Sciences" under "Subject area resources," then click "Anthropology."

Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)

• HRAF's Collection of Ethnography contains full text ethnographies on nearly 400 ethnic, cultural, religious, and national groups worldwide. It is used to find information on a particular culture or cultural trait or for making cross-cultural comparisons. The Files include thousands of pages of text from books, articles, and unpublished manuscripts, as well as English translations of foreign texts available exclusively in HRAF. The texts are extensively indexed by subject and by ethnic group. While some of the Files are available online at the link above, but the majority of the files are in microfiche, housed in the Government Documents reference area on the 2nd floor of the Main Library.
  
  
• HRAF's Collection of Archaeology contains the full text of acounts of archeological traditions from around the world. It is indexed using a similar subjct classification to the Collection of Ethnography, but does not have any microfiche portion.
  
  
• For help with HRAF, see our online guide or contact the HRAF assistant in the Geography-Map Library.

Further Help!

Contact the anthropology librarian, Moira Smith, or stop by the office on the 7th floor of the Main Library.

African Studies Librarian: Marion Frank-Wilson

Last updated November 5, 2008 by dcb