The databases listed here are among the best to use when performing research in Anthropology. For an expanded listing of possible resources, see the Anthropology listing in the Electronic Databases by Subject. If the article’s full text is not immediately available, use the Journal Finder to help you locate the full-text. (Just type in the title of the journal to see where it is available.) If we do not have access to it, you can request the article via Sewanee ILL, our interlibrary loan program.
Scopus is a citation and abstract database of peer-reviewed literature. It contains over 50 million records in the areas of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage strongest in the physical sciences (7,200+ titles) and health sciences (6,800+ titles), followed by the life sciences (4,300+ titles), and finally the social sciences & humanities (5,300+ titles). Titles included in Scopus are selected based on journal policies, content, journal standing, regularity of publication, and online availability. More than 25,000 titles (including open access journals) from around the world are covered in Scopus. Links to full text of articles are provided for items included in library subscriptions.
In Scopus, it is possible to perform quick searches by document, author, or affiliation. The Advanced search option offers greater customization, allowing for the use of field codes and proximity operators. Results can be further refined by publication year, author name, document type, source name, affiliation, language, and more.
Scopus can be used to determine the impact of specific authors, articles/documents, and journals.There are several methods of analysis available in Scopus. The Journal Analyzer compares the citation metrics of different journals. Articles or other documents can be analyzed using the Citation Overview/Tracker. For authors, there is the Author Evaluator and h-index.
User tools and features:
Alerts service, including citation alerts.
Compatible with RefWorks and Mendeley.
Integration with ORCID.
Finding peer reviewed articles is often as easy as clicking a checkbox in a library database, but only some of those peer reviewed articles contain primary research studies (also called empirical research studies).
What is a primary research study?
Here are some search tips for finding primary research studies:
1. Use the library databases.
You can still use the same databases to find primary research studies as you would use to find any other peer reviewed sources. Primary research studies are published in academic journals and the library databases help you sift through those journal articles.
2. Try adding “research” or “study” to your search terms. Add this in a separate box from your other search terms.
3. While adding these terms to your search may help, the best way to distinguish a primary study from any other peer reviewed article is by looking at the abstract and the article itself.
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