ANTH 301: Culture and Medicine (Godde) Print Research Guide

Start with these databases for articles related to your topic:

See an article you want in one of these databases?

Look for "Full Text" in PDF, HTML, Linked or
Fill out an Interlibrary Loan article request form. Free, takes about one week.
Any time you need help, ask a librarian.

Note: Some databases include non-scholarly magazine or newspaper articles. Make sure your sources are academic.

Search strategies to get better results when searching a database:

Identify key concepts and synonyms
Use "quotes" around phrases
Use AND between different concepts
Use OR between similar concepts
Use an asterisk* to find word variations

Books are usually more broad (and provide a better overview) than articles.

Search the Library Catalog for books at CSUSM.

The Circuit delivers books from local libraries to our Check Out Desk in 1-2 days.

(Tip: See a book you want from Amazon or Borders? Search for the title in The Circuit).

Did you know? Most college libraries are organized by the Library of Congress Classification System.

Only have 1 or 2 good sources? Use those bibliographies to find more research.

Find a specific article -- search for the journal title and year.
Find a specific book -- search for the book title.

Any time you need help, ask a librarian.

Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E

In college, you are often required to use scholarly (aka academic, peer-reviewed) sources.

CHECK:

Was it written by experts? They're affiliated with a university or provide their educational background (e.g. PhD).
Is it based on research? The findings are based on a study conducted or on a review of other expert literature. There MUST be a bibliography or works cited list.
Who is the intended audience? Scholarly sources will use complex, expert language and be fairly lengthy. Most academic research is published in peer-reviewed journals or books, not freely available thru Google.

Find out more about scholarly research with this quick video.

Every time you use someone else's ideas (even if you explain the idea in your own words), give credit in your bibliography AND in the text of your paper.

To format your bibliography