Guides: Anthropology: Getting Started

Welcome to your Anthropology guide!

This guide includes information and quick links to help you do library research in the field of Anthropology.

Explore the guide to find more information about anthropology reference sources, books, articles, professional associations, and how to organize and cite your sources.

This image is adopted from Shared Voices: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology [First Edition] by Vanessa Martinez and Demetrios Brellas / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Start with Reference

Reference sources can provide information about the topic and lead to concepts and keywords to use in your research.

Representative print and online reference sources for the discipline of Anthropology are listed below. Print reference sources are located on the main floor of Preus Library.

Anthropology Reference Sources

Specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, and subject bibliographies can be helpful in choosing and narrowing a topic. Reading in the specialized reference materials introduces background information and can provide key concepts or keywords to use in your search. This is just a selection. Search the reference databases below for more sources.

21st Century Anthropology: a Reference Handbook by H. James Birx (Editor)
Call Number: Ref GN25 .A144 2010 and ebook

ISBN: 9781412957380

Highlights the most important topics, issues, questions, and debates any student obtaining a degree in the field of anthropology ought to have mastered for effectiveness in the 21st century.
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology by Alan Barnard (Editor); Jonathan Spencer (Editor)
Call Number: ebook

This new edition of the highly acclaimed Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology provides a unique guide to the ideas, arguments and history of the discipline. Combining anthropological theory and ethnography, it includes substantial entries, short biographies of important figures in anthropology, and glossary items.
Encyclopedia of World Cultures by Melvin Ember; Carol R. Ember; Ian A. Skoggard; Human Relations Area Files, Inc Staff (Contribution by)
Call Number: Ref GN307 .E53 1991 v.1-10

This reference set lists and describes more than 1,500 global cultures. Based on research of social scientists, it is the source for historical, social, political, economic, linguistic, religious, and other information on virtually every existing culture.
The Oxford Companion to Archaeology
Call Number: ebook

Featuring 700 authoritative articles written by hundreds of respected scholars from all over the world. Provides authoritative, stimulating entries on a range of subjects, including engaging biographies of the great figures in the field, extensive coverage of the methods used in archaeological research, together with essays that examine human evolution and the many general facets of culture.
Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology by David Levinson; Melvin Ember (Editor)
Call Number: Ref GN307 .E52 1996

Covers medical anthropology, economic anthropology, humanism, cultural materialism, cross-cultural analysis, ethnography, statistics, caste, naming, cultural regions that have been the focus of field research, the Mead-Freeman controversy, the Wild Yam Question, the Pristine Myth, dialectology and cultural resource management.

General Online Reference Sources

Gale Virtual Reference Library
A collection of over 3,000 reference works, covering all disciplines.
Credo Reference
An online collection of over 600 full-text reference works, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, and more.
Oxford Reference Online
This online source provides access to subject and language reference works from Oxford University Press. In addition to text, access is provided to maps and illustrations, timelines, web sites, and bibliographies.
Encyclopaedia Britannica