Has your professor assigned a particular journal article as a course reading? Or are you looking for the full-text version of an article you found online or through a database search? Follow these instructions to find a specific journal article by its title in LibrarySearch.
If you are looking for scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles on topics in sociocultural anthropology, we recommend searching in the databases listed below. For best results, search more than one database, since each one includes unique journals. To incorporate a range of perspectives on the topic, try searching in anthropology-specific and multidisciplinary databases.
Citations to journal articles, books, reviews, and chapters in the fields of anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology.
Before you begin, read your research question/assignment. If you have any questions, be sure to ask your instructor or TA before you begin your research.
Why? | How? | Example | |
Step 1: Identify key concepts | Key concepts from your research question are the most effective search terms to quickly locate relevant sources. | Underline key nouns from your research question. | How does food contribute to nationalism? |
Step 2: Identify alternative search terms | To find everything relevant to your topic in a database. | Brainstorm alternatives (synonyms, alternative spelling) for your key concepts. |
Key concept 1: food
Key concept 2: nationalism
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Step 3: Consider using limiters (available in a library database) | In order to focus on articles that are appropriate for your assignment. | Choose limiters in a library database that are relevant to your research needs. |
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Step 4: Combine your search terms | In order to get more focused results, use Boolean operators (and, or) as well as the wildcard* to combine key concepts. |
And: Combines key concepts together to find articles that contain both concepts. Or: Combines alternative search terms to find articles that contain either/any concept. Wildcard*: Finds variations in spelling, prefixes, and suffixes (revers* will find reverse, reversal, reversing, etc.) Quotation marks: searches for word or phrase as a unit (preserves word order) |
(food* or cuisine* or cooking or dish* or meal* or eat*) AND (national* or patriotism or identity or identities) |
Step 5: Review your search results | Check if articles are appropriate for your assignment to ensure you find the right information to write a high quality paper. |
Check if you articles are:
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Step 6: Adjust your strategy | If you don't find relevant articles, change your search strategy. |
Too few articles? Try...
Too many articles? Try...
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Too few articles? Try...
Example: incorporate the names of specific example foods into the search Too many articles? Try...
Example: narrowing the search to focus on a particular type of food, or a specific nation |
Adapted from The University of Manchester Library: Making Your Search Work (Cheat Sheet)
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