Anthropology

Welcome to the Anthropology Subject Guide. My name is Brew Schoonover, and I am the anthropology librarian at FSU Libraries. In this guide, I have provided some recommended resources as well as tips to help you through the research process. There is also a page to help you with the many different ways anthropologists cite their references.   

Feel free to email me if you have any questions or if you would like to make an appointment to meet in person or on Zoom. I wish you the best!

• Be strategic; don't just start Googling and take the first 10 sources you find
• Take the time to develop a good thesis and brainstorm your keywords (don't shortcut this process)
• Save your searches and save your citations
• Think critically about your sources
• Good research takes time; do the work and don't wait until the last minute (you may need something that we can only get through Interlibrary Loan)

Developing a clear and concise thesis or research question will help you to focus your research and your writing.  

• Write out your topic, thesis, or research question in one clear sentence
• Break down your topic into its major concepts
• Brainstorm synonyms and similar phrases for each concept
• Use a thesaurus, think of historical or taxonomy terms, terms from textbooks, go broader or more narrow

Building a search string example and worksheet

Video: building a search string and conducting an advanced search (8:57)