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ANT 112 - Desert Vista: MEGASEARCH/Ethnographic Film Analysis

Using MEGASEARCH for Ethnographic Film Analysis

How to Use Megasearch for Peer Reviewed (Scholarly) Sources

(You may need to log in)

1. Open MEGASEARCH (Click Link Above)

  • First: Click Advanced Search
  • Next: Select your discipline:  Anthropology
  • For peer-reviewed articles, select "Scholarly Journals" in left hand margin

2. In the first box, enter a term such as  "inequality"

   (For best searching, enclose terms in quotation marks)

  • At right, click Select a field:    TI (Title) ,  SU (Subject)  AB  (Abstract)
  • Click Search. Note the large number of results.

3. In box below enter "prostitution"

     Click Search. Note the smaller number of results this time.

4.  Remember to Limit your results by selections below the search boxes

  • By "Peer Reviewed" and Date (Adjust Date on left margin)

5. Review the results.

  • Click the Title for the full record
  • Highlighting scans your search terms
  • Turn on Search Term Navigation

6. Obtain citation--Click "Cite" icon on right margin and choose APA Format

7. Email an article to yourself/Save Your Search

How to use MEGASEARCH for Non-Academic Sources

(You may need to log in)

1. Open MEGASEARCH (Click Link Above)

  • First:  Click Advanced Search
  • Next:  Select your discipline:  Anthropolgy
  • For non-academic articles, select Magazines or News on left margin

2. In the first box, enter this: "inequality"

(For best searching, enclose terms in quotation marks)

  • At right, click Select a field:  TI (Title), SU (Subject) AB (abstract)
  • Click Search. Note the large number of results.

3. In second box, enter "prostitution"

  • Click Search. Note that each time you add a term in a field, the results get smaller.

4. Limit your results by Magazines or News and Date (Date adjusted on left margin)

5. Review the results and get your citation

  • Results of Search is illustrated in box below
  • Obtain your APA citation 

6. Email an article to yourself /Save Your Search

 

Checklist for your sources

1. Number and types of sources

  • At least two peer-reviewed journal articles
  • At least one other source
  • All sources must be relevant and reliable (credible).

2. Relevance

  • The sources must discuss your anthropological concept or give examples of it
  • The sources are useful for your analysis of the film

3. Reliability/Credibility

These are Quick Criteria. See the link to the rubric below.

  • Authority:  Are the authors of the source are in a good position to know the truth?
    • Have they studied relevant data?
    • Do they have the expertise to interpret this data? What are their credentials?
    • Have they taken steps to avoid errors?
  • Bias: Are the authors incentivized to tell the truth and avoid distortion?
    • Do the authors have anything to gain by distorting the truth? Conflicts of interest?
    • Does the method of publication help protect us from bias? Is it peer reviewed?
    • If they distort the truth, how likely is it that they will be caught and suffer negative consequences?
  • Claim: Make sure the source is credible on the specific claims you focus on.