Anthropology and Archaeology

To access the library databases follow these steps:

1. Login to My Western.

2. Click the "Library" icon.

3. Click the "Databases" icon.

4. Look for a database by name, type, or subject.

5. Use the recommended databases listed in this Library Guide to get started.

Keywords

• Search terms that cover key concepts or main ideas. 

Synonyms

• Alternative words for the same concept. (Ex: cultural anthropology/ culturology) 

Boolean Searches 

• Combines related search terms by using AND, OR, NOT. For example: searching Anthropology AND culture NOT ethnography will provide resources pertaining to anthropological culture and exclude resources on ethnography. 

Truncation/ Wildcard 

• Truncation is an advanced search technique using an asterisk (*) to specify any number of characters typically used at the end of a root word.

  Examples:

  • technolog* will search for technology, technologies, technological, etc.

  • histor* will search for history, histories, historical, etc.

• Wildcard is a search technique using a ? or # are used to replace letters in words where there are unknown or multiple possible characters. This can vary by the database.

  Examples:

  • colo?r will search for color or colour.

  • hono?r will search for honor or honour.

  • wom?n will search for woman or women.

Limiters/ Filters (Help to narrow your search results)

• Full text: limits results to resources that are fully available to view now.

• Peer reviewed: limits results to resources that have gone through an extensive review and editing process by the author's peers (fellow experts who are in the same subject field). 

• Publication Dates: limits results to specific date ranges. 

• Source Type: limits results by specific source types. (ex: academic/scholarly journal articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, eBooks)

Ask a Librarian

• If you are needing assistance with finding articles, books, etc. for your research papers, contact a librarian. We are happy to help!