Anthropology 115W: Ancestors of the Aztec and Incas (Janusek)
Library Research Guide

Locating Books in ACORN, the library's catalog of its books, media, and journal titles
   Note: Acorn does not include journal article titles or authors (see Locating Journal Articles)

When beginning a research project, it is usually best to begin with a keyword search. Once you have looked at the full record for a few items that are close to your topic you will have a better sense of the subject headings that will be used to describe material on this topic. When searching for Incas, for example, you will see that sometimes the subject heading used is Indians of South America Peru.

Narrowing a search: Connect different concepts with the word AND. Ex. incas AND religion.

Broadening a search: Use the truncation symbol to pick up variants of those terms. Ex. maya$ will retrieve items with the terms maya, mayan or mayans).
Connect similar concepts with the word OR. Ex. inca$ AND (mummification OR embalming).

Locating Journal Articles

Use article databases to find journal articles. While some databases have the full text of journal articles, many will have only citations and abstracts. Use the Periodical Title search in ACORN to see if the library has the journal title. You can display a list of databases in a particular subject by clicking on Articles & Databases on the Heard Library Homepage. Choose a subject from the menu (ex. Art, Anthropology or Latin American Studies) and click the GO button. Below are a few suggested databases with descriptions of what is covered.

Anthropology Plus
The principal index to articles, essays and other publications in anthropology, archaeology and related subjects, it is derived from the periodicals and books in the premier anthropology collection at the Tozzer Library of Harvard University and the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Full-text databases containing information about cultures and archaeological traditions, respectively. These texts are subject-indexed at the paragraph level for quick retrieval of specific information. For search tips, see eHRAF User Guides, which include search strategy tips, a tutorial, a glossary and more.

Handbook of Latin American Studies
The principal bibliography of books and articles about Latin America--covers 1935 to the present.

Bibliographies and Encyclopedias

Bibliografia Mesoamericana
An extensive bibliography on Mesoamerican topics.

Carrasco, Davíd. Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
(Reference F1218.6 .O95 2001 volumes 1-3) A good starting place for finding background information and key references on your topic.

Evans, Susan Toby and David L. Webster. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. (Reference F1218.6 .A73 2001)

Peregrine Peter N. and Melvin Ember. Encyclopedia of Prehistory. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, c2001-c2002.
(Reference GN710 .E53 2001; volume 5 covers Middle America)

Other Resources

For selected Internet sites, see the Heard Library homepage Subject Guides for Anthropology & Archaeology, Latin American Studies.

Last updated: September 25, 2003
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