ANTH 203: Library tips for critical review & analysis

You must write a critical review. While your professor's instructions and assignment guidelines always come first, you might also find these guides useful:

• How to write a Critical Review of a Journal Article (Queen's & University of Toronto Mississauga Library)
• Writing a Critical Review From your professor's assignment description

You must FIND research articles (and choose at least one). While your professor's instructions and assignment guidelines always come first, these guides could also be useful:

• Finding and Identifying Original Research Articles in the Sciences (NDSU Libraries)
• Research vs. Review Articles (Concordia Library guide)

Browse or search within an individual title from the list of possible journals provided on your course outline (select only RESEARCH --NOT REVIEW-- ARTICLES which relate to TOPICS COVERED IN YOUR COURSE):

• American Journal of Biological Anthropology (should be labelled RESEARCH ARTICLE) 
• Evolution (should be labelled ORIGINAL ARTICLE)
• Human Biology (not labelled - make sure it is describing RESEARCH)
  
• Human Genetics (should be labelled ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION)
• International Journal of Primatology (should be labelled ORIGINAL PAPER)
• Journal of Anthropological Research (should be found under ARTICLES)
• Journal of Human Evolution (should be labelled RESEARCH ARTICLE)
• Nature (should be part of RESEARCH ARTICLES listing, labelled ARTICLE)
• Nature Genetics  (should be labelled ARTICLE)
• Science  (should be labelled RESEARCH ARTICLE) 
  
• Behaviour [until 2020 only.] (must be listed under REGULAR ARTICLES)
• Current Anthropology (not labelled - make sure it is describing original RESEARCH not just arguments - many articles NOT related to course topics)
• World archaeology (should be labelled ORIGINAL ARTICLE)

See also some more Key Journals for Biological Anthropology according to University of Oregon Libraries:

• American Journal of Human Biology (should be labelled ORIGINAL ARTICLE or ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE)
• American Journal of Primatology (should be labelled RESEARCH ARTICLE)
• Primates (should be labelled ORIGINAL ARTICLE)

**IMPORTANT TIPS:

• Be sure to choose recent issues of the relevant journals, between 2013 and 2024
  
  
• Select full-length research articles (at least 10 pages long), NOT Book Reviews , Editorials or Columns.
  
  
• Journal and publisher web sites can sometimes lead you astray to non-peer-reviewed articles. Make sure the article you choose  meets the criteria of your assignment. 

You can also browse or search other journal titles that you might have come across, as long as they are peer-reviewed and recognized as relevant to biological anthropology in the academic community.

1. In our BrowZine or Sofia E--journals search box, enter the name of the journal
2. From the results list, simply click on one of the suggested links, as long as it covers the relevant date range.
3. You can then browse or search the journal and pick an article that relates to evolution and/or topics covered in your course from any issue published between 2013 and 2024.

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Search any of these article databases to find recent (2013-2024) RESEARCH --NOT REVIEW-- ARTICLES  that relate to the topic of your chosen chapter:

[**WARNING: It could be quite easy for you to get lost within these multidisciplinary tools and to find articles that are not relevant or appropriate research articles. See your SLIDES for thorough descriptions and checklists of what is appropriate. ]

• Anthropology Plus
  1. select both the Academic Journals and Electronic Resources checkboxes
  2. most articles are scholarly research articles, but to be sure, think of the examples we looked at in class and see  the identifying research articles guide. 

• Academic Search Complete
• Web of Science
• Google Scholar

**IMPORTANT TIPS:

• You should  use the Scholarly/Peer-reviewed journals/Academic Journals checkbox when available to limit your search to appropriate journals. See also Evaluating Sources below.
• You can use Date Limits to ensure you search for articles published between 2013 and 2024.
• You can select Journal Name (or Publication Name or Publication Title) from the drop-down search box in most databases to limit your search to one of the journals suggested in your Course Outline.

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To get a better understanding of the theories and concepts discussed in the article and chapter you have chosen and to strenghten your argument, you can consult your course texts.

You can also consult additional library tools and resources such as:

•  Scientific American  - a good quality science journal that is however not peer-reviewed.
  **look espeically for articles written by scientists rather than journalists.
   
• Evolutionary Anthropology - a peer-reviewed journal that contains only review articles  (the main article you are analyzing CANNOT be a review article).
  
  
• The same Article Databases as listed above to search for additional articles 
  
  

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Scholarly Encyclopedias can provide useful definitions and can help you understand and interpret concepts in the article you have chosen. You can:

• Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology
• International Encyclopedia of Anthropology
• Search multiple encyclopedias simultaneously in Gale eBooks or Oxford Reference 
  
• Select from subject lists or search for a different encyclopedia using our Online Encyclopedias page.

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For the OPEN PEDAGOGY TEXTBOOK ADAPTATION PROJECT,  to find resources with additional or alternative takes on your textbook chapter you can consult:

1. The RECOMMENDED TEXTS  listed on your course outline
2. the additional resources used in class each week and listed on your course outline
3. sources listed in FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION and References section of each chapter of the TEXTBOOK 
4. the Article Databases described above for your Critical Review Assignment.
5. TIP:  Try Google Scholar and its "cited by" link to find more recent resources that are citing and building on some of the older resources listed in your references. 

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Scholarly Encyclopedias not only proivde definitions, they provide list of useflul REFERENCES

• Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology
• International Encyclopedia of Anthropology
• Search multiple encyclopedias simultaneously in Gale eBooks or Oxford Reference 
  
• Select from subject lists or search for a different encyclopedia using our Online Encyclopedias page.

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• Your outline statesy you will need to include a complete reference of the article you are reviewing, and of any other additional supportive references used. 
  
  
• The APA Citation & Style Guide can help. For example:
  
  
  • sample  complete reference for a journal article 
  • sample in-text citations for the body of your paper (also called in-text citations)

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