AHST/ANTH 245: Art of Pre-Columbian America
Library Research Guide
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Yvonne Boyer, Arts Librarian
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Paula Covington, Latin American Studies Librarian
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Sue Erickson, Anthropology Librarian
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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.
See the search
strategy guide for help with formulating a search strategy for your
topic.
Examples of useful subject headings:
Indians of North America--New Mexico--Chaco Canyon--Antiquities.
Pueblo Indians--New Mexico--Chaco Canyon--Antiquities.
Pueblo Bonito Site (N.M.)
Navajo architecture.
Navajo Indians--Dwellings.
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Park (Ill.)
Narrowing a search:
Connect different concepts with the word AND:
Example: inca AND architecture
Broadening a search:
Use the truncation symbol to pick up variants of those terms.
Example: moch$ will retrieve items with the terms moche,
mochica.
Connect similar concepts with the word OR:
Examples: (pottery OR ceramics) AND moch$
(incas
or inkas) and architecture
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 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
Truncation symbol: ?
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.
Art
Abstracts Fulltext (includes Art Index Retrospective)
Truncation symbol: *
A bibliographic database that indexes and abstracts articles from more than
260 art related periodicals published throughout the world. Full-text coverage
for selected periodicals (beginning in 1997) is also included.
Bibliography
of the History of Art (BHA)
Truncation symbol: *
BHA indexes the current literature of European art from the 4th century
to the present, and of North and South American art from the European discovery
of the Americas to the present.
eHRAF
Collection of Ethnography and
eHRAF Collection of Archaeology
Truncation symbol: *
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.
Grove
Dictionary of Art
Truncation symbol: *
Useful for getting an overview of your paper topic. See the bibliographies and
encyclopedias for additonal resources.
Handbook
of Latin American Studies
The principal bibliography of books and articles about Latin America--covers
1935 to the present.
Print Bibliographies and Encyclopedias
Gibbon, Guy (ed.). Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America:
an Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Pub., 1998. (Reference E77.9 .A72
1998)
Peregrine Peter N. and Melvin Ember. Encyclopedia of Prehistory.
New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum, c2001-c2002.
(Reference GN710 .E53 2001; vol. 5 covers Middle America, vol. 6 covers
North America, and vol. 7 covers South America)
Schobinger, Juan. The Ancient Americans: a Reference Guide
to the Art, Culture, and History of Pre-Columbian North and South America.
Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, c2001. (Reference E59 .P42 S3613 2001 vol.1-2;
many illustrations)
Sorensen, John L. and Martin H. Raish. Pre-Columbian Contact
with the Americas Across the Oceans: an Annotated Bibliography. Provo, Utah:
Research Press, c1996. (Reference Z1212 .S674 1996, vol. 1-2)
Turner, Jane. Encyclopedia of Latin American & Caribbean
Art. London: Macmillan Reference Ltd.; New York: Grove's Dictionaries, c2000.
(Reference N6502 .E53 2000; part of the Grove
Dictionary of Art online)
Last updated: February 17, 2005
Send comments to Sue
Erickson