Research Guides: SOAN 098: Senior Research Project Master Class (SC): Scholarly Conversation + Overviews

Bibliographies

Peer-reviewed bibliographies can help you find important books and articles.

Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology
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Offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on anthropology.
Oxford Bibliographies in Sociology
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Offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on sociology.

Review Articles

Annual Reviews publish review articles, which provide an overview of important scholarship on a particular topic, question, or issue.

These review articles are valuable for preparing a literature review because they highlight important authors, books, and articles on the topic. Annual Review articles also highlight areas of debate among scholars in the field.

Annual Review of Anthropology
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Covers 1972-present

Annual Review of Sociology
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Sociology Compass
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This journal publishes review articles that offer an introduction to the scholarship in Sociology on particular topics.

Anthropology Encyclopedias

These online books offer can give you background information on anthropological thought and methods. Check the reference lists for citations to books, articles, and other materials on your topic.

The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology (2018)
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Essays that provide an overview of concepts, research, methods, and major figures in the discipline of anthropology. Great resource for clarifying terminology and finding a few key readings on a topic.

Example topics:
• Clifford Geertz
• Émile Durkheim
• Visual Anthropology
• Contraception and Family Planning
21st century anthropology (2011)
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Provides overviews of topics and situates them within larger questions. The recommended readings are often quite substantial. Note also the related articles that are listed at the ends of entries.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology (2010)
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Swarthmore students can read this encyclopedia as an ebook. If you're interested in a particular topic (e.g. indigenous knowledge), use the "Search Within" box (located above the table of contents) to find the relevant entry. You'll find more precise results if you enclose the search terms in double quotes "like this."
Books on anthropology theory and methods [Tripod search]
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400+ recent books (2010-present) explaining anthropology theory and methods
Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology
A continuously growing introductory resource for all those who would like to familiarize themselves with particular subjects of interest and with the discipline of Social Anthropology more broadly. All entries are peer-reviewed by leading academics, making the OEA one of the most reliable resources for anthropological knowledge on the web.

Sociology Encyclopedias

These online books offer can give you background information on sociological thought and methods. Check the reference lists for citations to books, articles, and other materials on your topic.

Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology
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Essays that provide an overview of key topics, methods, theories, and scholars in the discipline of sociology. Great resource for clarifying terminology and finding a few key readings about a topic.

Example topics:
• Grounded theory
• Emotions and Social Movements
• Pierre Bourdieu
Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2017)
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Online book that provides 850 in-depth, original entries introducing key concepts, theorists, and debates in modern social theory
Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
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Examines both American and European traditions and approaches to sociology. Entries cover schools, theories, theorists and debates, with substantial articles (usually at least a few paragraphs long) on all key topics in the field. (2006)
The new Blackwell companion to social theory
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Provides a comprehensive guide to the principal traditions of social theory, while also exploring critical contemporary issues and engaging sociology with other major areas of the social sciences.

Handbooks & Companions

What are handbooks and companions? Two types of books that can help you find the most important scholarship for your literature review.

Sociology handbooks and companions [Tripod search]
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300+ recent books (2015-present) that provide overviews of sociological scholarship
Anthropology handbooks and companions [Tripod search]
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300+ recent books (2015-present) that provide overviews of anthropological scholarship

DIssertation Lit Reviews

Doctoral students go through an exhaustive literature search when writing their dissertations. They also tend to work on new questions, sometimes ones that have received very little attention from scholars before. You can obtain many of these dissertations and benefit from all the bibliographic treasues and new ideas. Check ProQuest Dissertations & Theses to identify dissertations on your topic.

Dissertations & Theses
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ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is a collection of scholarly research in the Humanities and Social Sciences that consists of 2.7 million searchable citations to dissertations and theses from around the world, and 1.2 million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. Coverage is from 1861 to the present day.

Background Information

Very Short Introductions
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Launched by Oxford University Press in 1995, Very Short Introductions offer concise introductions to a diverse range of subject areas from Climate to Consciousness, Game Theory to Ancient Warfare, Privacy to Islamic History, Economics to Literary Theory.
PolicyMap
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Quick access to reliable statistics about demographics, housing, income, jobs, health, and other topics. Lets you view and map data at the national, state, county, and local level. (Focus: United States)
Oxford Reference
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Bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias, Oxford Reference is the premier online reference product, spanning 25 different subject areas with coverage from 2002 to the present.

SOAN 098: Senior Research Project Master Class (SC)

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