Welcome!
This guide is designed to orient you to resources and services available through ZSR Library that will enable you to be successful in Dr. MacLellan's ANT 308: Archaeological Theory and Practice (Household Archaeology) class. If you have any questions about the resources provided in this guide, please let one of us know! Email me or click on the "Meet with Me" button in one of our profiles to set up a personal research session.
Database Search Tips
Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to narrow or broaden your search and to exclude terms in your search.
- AND – narrows a search (ex. media AND violence – both terms have to appear in articles for database to retrieve)
- OR – broadens a search (ex. college OR university – articles with either term will be retrieved by database)
- NOT – excludes terms in search (ex. bulimia NOT anorexia – articles with only the term bulimia will be retrieved by database)
Truncation - Use the * (asterisk symbol) to search for variations of the root of a word (e.g. wom* - will retrieve search results with woman, women, womanly, womanhood)
Exact phrase - Use quotation marks around a phrase to retrieve results that include the exact phrase (e.g. "Nazca lines" or "Kennewick Man".
Use the built-in database filters to limit your search results! - Most interfaces let you limit by publication date, subject, format and more. These features will help you hone your search strategy to find the most relevant sources!
Call Numbers
Books on the same topic are shelved together, so it can be a useful search technique to just browse the book shelves and see what you find! Here are some general call number areas to get you started. See this page for the locations of each call number section.
DG70 P7-Pompeii
DT56.8-69.5-Egyptian Archaeology
E51-73-Pre-Columbian North America
E75-99-Indigenous People of North America
E99-Tribal Groups (alphabetical)
F1218.5-1221-Mexico-Indigenous Culture
F1435-1435.3-Mayan Culture
F1545-1545.3-Costa Rica-Indigenous Culture
F3429-3430.1-Peru-Indigenous Culture
GN406-442-Material Culture-food, shelter, fire, tools, etc...
GT165-476-Houses and Dwellings
GT495-499-Human Body ad Personal Grooming
GT2400-3390.5-Customes Relative to Private Life
Finding Background Information on One's Research Topic
Encyclopedias, Handbooks, & Reference Works
Subject specific encyclopedias and handbooks are a good starting point for researching a topic. The articles or chapters contained within are typically written by scholars or experts in the field. Using them at the beginning of one's research can help in determining key terms to use in searching the library's catalog and databases. A bibliography containing citations for books and/or journal articles can often be found at the end of articles or chapters in subject specific encyclopedias and handbooks, and these citations can be used to identify other sources on one's topic.
Encyclopedia of American Indian HistoryCall Number: E77 .E48 2008 WEBISBN: 9781851098170Publication Date: 2007
- Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new windowIncludes a collection of scholarly handbooks in History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Religion. Great starting point for background research.
The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780190496272Publication Date: 2021-01-19
The Oxford Handbook of Prehistoric Figurines by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780199675616Publication Date: 2017-06-13
The Oxford Handbook of the Incas by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780190219352Publication Date: 2018-05-01
- Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new windowSearchable full text of reference books in many subjects. Books can be searched together or individually. Coverage: varies
The Oxford Companion to Archaeology by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780199735785Publication Date: 2012-10-12
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780195170726Publication Date: 2009-12-31
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the near East by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780195065121Publication Date: 1996-11-28
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9780195108156Publication Date: 2001-06-07
Routledge Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous-Colonial Interaction in the Americas by ISBN: 9780429274251Publication Date: 2021
The Routledge handbook of the peoples and places of ancient western Asia : the Near East from the early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire by ISBN: 9786612315435Publication Date: 2009
Databases - General & Subject
- ZSR Library Catalog This link opens in a new windowData about the books, journals, films, manuscripts, and other materials owned by the ZSR Library. Coverage: 14th century-
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowProvides access to journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education, and more. Good general-purpose database for researching most topics. Coverage: 1985-
- Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new windowProvides access to periodicals, journals, and edited works, with an emphasis on archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics. Coverage: Late 19th century-present
- Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS This link opens in a new windowThe premier database for research in religious studies, the Atla database provides full-text coverage for major international journals, magazines, and professional publications. Multiple religious traditions and related disciplines, such as anthropology, political science, counseling, and history are represented. Coverage: 1818-
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowA full-text database of archived issues of academic journals. Since JSTOR is a backfiles project, a typical coverage range is the beginning of a journal until three or five years ago. Supported in part by the Dail Endowment Fund. Coverage: Varies
- ProQuest This link opens in a new windowSearches across all ProQuest article databases. Contains articles covering the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and business. Databases include Research Library, Ethnic NewsWatch, and ProQuest Religion. Coverage: 1970-
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowContains three ISI Citation Databases (Science Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index), plus Biological Abstracts, Emerging Sources Citation Index, MEDLINE (PubMed), and the SciELO Citation Index. Provides bibliographic data, author abstracts, and cited references. Coverage: 1945-
