ANT 112 - Downtown (Drake-Rosenstein): Ethnographic Film Analysis

"Look hard through the database; it isn't rocket science."

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 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.

Open this quick guide to APA (Google Docs).

Here is a fuller guide.

See Emily's video and slides: Incorporating Sources in Ethnographic Film Analysis 

Find academic peer reviewed articles

• Open MegaSearch (you may be prompted to log in)

• Before you search, do these three things!

  • Click Advanced Search (below the search box)

  • Scroll down. Under Disciplines, check-mark Anthropology

  • (In the left margin) check-mark Scholarly Journals (peer review)

• Enter terms for your main topic (top box). Search..

  • inequality

• Enter a focus topic, and Search.

  • prostitution

• Review a few titles

• To find articles that concentrate on your topics, consider doing this:

  • To the right of a search box, click Select a field (optional) 

  • Then select one of these highly relevant fields to search in

    • TI Title

    • SU Subject

    • AB Abstract (try this first)

This will find fewer results. But each result will mention your concepts in the abstract (summary).

Experiment with adding (and subtracting) these special limits. To subtract one, choose Select a Field (optional). This lets you find more articles.

Email an article to yourself!

• Open the article's full record, and click Email (at right)

• Take 30 seconds, and write a detailed, descriptive subject line! Believe me, this will save you hassle later.

• Make sure to select Citation format = APA (American Psychological Assoc.)

• The email will contain:

  • the full text of the article
  • the APA 7th ed. reference
  • a permalink to the full record in MegaSearch. In your APA reference, you might consider replacing the DOI link with the permalink. Ask your instructor.

Non-academic sources are easier to read and more fun. They also can lead you to good academic sources.

Find non-academic articles (from magazines and news sources)

• Open MegaSearch (you may be prompted to log in)

• Click Advanced Search (below the search box)

• In the bottom search box, enter this: anthropol*

• In the top box, enter terms for your main topic (top box). Search..

  • inequality

• Enter a focus topic, and Search.

  • prostitution
• After each new search, scroll to Format (left side) and choose one these:
  • Magazines
  • News

• Review a few titles

• To find articles that concentrate on your topics, consider doing this:

  • To the right of a search box, click Select a field (optional) 

  • Then select one of these highly relevant fields to search in

    • TI Title

    • SU Subject  

    • AB Abstract

This will find fewer results. But each result will mention your concept in an important field.

Experiment with adding (and subtracting) these special limits. To subtract one, choose Select a Field (optional). This lets you find more articles.

Email an article to yourself!

• Open the article's full record, and click Email (at right)

• Take 30 seconds, and write a detailed, descriptive subject line! 

• Make sure to select Citation format = APA (American Psychological Assoc.)

• The email will contain:

  • the full text of the article
  • the APA 7th ed. reference
  • a permalink to the full record in MegaSearch. In your APA reference, you might consider replacing the DOI link with the permalink. Ask your instructor.

You can search for your main concept with a single word:

• inequality

Or you can improve the search with alternative terms for the same concept:

• inequality OR poverty OR subsistence OR caste         
• This finds 25,000 more articles

You can search for your focus concept with a single word:

• prostitution

But you get a better search when you provide alternative terms for the same concept:

• prostitution OR "sex work" OR "sex industry" OR "sex trafficking"             
• This finds 500 more articles

When you combine the two enriched concepts, they find twice as many articles as with the single word concepts.

How to do it:

1. Each concept gets its OWN box.

2. Enter a term for the concept, then add synonyms or examples of it.

• If you use a multi-word term, enclose it in quotes
  • Right:   "sex work"
  • Wrong: sex work
• In a concept box, link the terms with this operator: OR
  • Right:  inequality OR poverty
  • Wrong: inequality poverty
  • Wrong: inequality AND poverty

When you do an Advanced Search in MegaSearch, you can feed that search into Google.

1. Search in MegaSearch

2. On the results page, click Share (at right)

• Under Current Search, click the link.

3. Go to the folder (at top).

• Copy the search, not the long URL.
• ( prostitution OR "sex work" OR "sex industry" OR "sex trafficking" ) AND ( inequality OR poverty OR subsistence OR caste )

4. Paste this into Google.

Note: If your search includes wildcards, Google won't understand it. 

To share your search with your librarian (or anyone), copy it from MegaSearch.

1. Go to the screen that lists your search results.

2. Click Share (top right).

3. Click the URL that displays. Copy and paste it.

To link to an article in MegaSearch, you must use a permalink. The normal link (in the address bar) will fail.

1. Go to the full record of the article. (Not the full text of the article, but its record in MegaSearch.)

2. Click Permalink (at right).

3. Click the URL that pops up. Copy and paste it.

4. A sample permalink: 

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=122918502&authtype=shib&site=eds-live&scope=site&custid=s8337083

"Consult with a librarian ASAP. Take time in searching for sources in various places on MegaSearch."

"Always try different word choices when looking for sources."

"It's ok to ask several questions about finding a relevant and reliable source during your research."