Cultural Anthropology - POSTER ASSIGNMENT

This assignment is for you to have the opportunity to explore in more depth a topic related to this class in which you are interested. You will frame a specific question; conduct a literature search to answer your question and present basic conclusions from your research. You will create an annotated bibliography as a way to organize your research. You will share this information with the class in a poster and turn in an abstract. All work must be typed, all references cited, including within the text of your abstract and your poster (use the Style Guide, examples page 2). You will need to have 6 sources for this paper, 4 must be from peer reviewed academic journals - NO WEBSITES. This is a 3 part assignment, see syllabus for due dates.

Part 1: Research Question and 2 source Annotated Bibliography- Turn in the specific question you intend to research. Your question must relate to material covered in class. Include two academic sources in an annotated bibliography. Your question should be from an anthropological perspective, utilizing anthropological terms, concepts and theories.

• You will need to have sources to explore the question, make sure the literature is available
• The question should be of a college level caliber in relationship to material from this class.
• An annotated bibliography is a list of your references cited with a brief description and/or summary of the contents of each source.

Part 2: Outline & 6 Source Annotated Bibliography- The last draft before your abstract and paper are due. For this part of the assignment you need;

• your question clearly stated - taking into account all recommended revisions
• a brief outline of the data you have collected and your tentative conclusions
• a complete annotated list of the literature sources you are utilizing.

Part 3a: Poster Abstract

This should be one page, typed, single spaced (If you use double spaced, 2 pages). It should contain the question/topic you explored, the specific questions you had, the data you gathered and your analysis and conclusion based on what research you conducted. Be specific, what did you learn, how did you learn it, what questions were answered and what questions still remain. You must cite your sources within the text of your abstract, otherwise it is plagiarism, include your bibliography. Your grade will be based on following directions, clarity, content caliber, grammar, and spelling.

Part 3b: Poster- Your poster should contain most of the information from your abstract, albeit in a different format. Keep the font readable, 20-24 is recommended. Use visuals, graphs, and the information you gathered in your research (remember to cite the source). Grab the reader with your topic/question and then take them on the journey you engaged in to complete this assignment. Use color and pictures to enhance, but don't let them be distracting (wild, cursive fonts are hard to read, so are light colors). Your grade will be based on your presentation of the data, clarity, how informative you are, and the content caliber. Your poster should have your full name clearly displayed on the front. You can include the bibliography on the front or back of the poster. Have fun, learn a lot and be creative!

Tip: the key to completing a good abstract and poster, is clarity, question caliber and presentation. What is your question/topic? Be sure to include geographic area and time frame as applicable. What are you researching and why? What data did you utilize to answer your question? What has your data collection taught you? What is your analysis of the data? What questions were answered? What questions do you still have (which may or may not be answered with this assignment)?

Style Guide Examples:

Your book uses this style, so you can also use your text for examples. Style Guides are available online for further reference.

Citations within your abstract/poster:

Today a great deal is known about Egypt (Baines and Malek 2000; Shaw 2000) although there is still much to learn.

In an argument related to the food crisis theory, Cohen (1977) also suggested that by the end of the Pleistocene human groups occupied all of the terrestrial...

For direct quotes, always cite the author, publication year, AND page number(s):

Sutton (2013:124) states, "data collected from the field have to be managed in some systematic manner."

In the 21st century "people have more access to misinformation about archaeology than at any other time in history" (Sutton 2013:359).

Works Cited/Bibliography/References Cited

Books: (1 author) Holliday, Vance T. 2004 Soils in Archaeological Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(2+ authors) Loewe, Michael and Edward L. Shaughnessy 1999 The Cambridge History of Ancient China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

(edited book) Claasen, Cheryl, ed. 1994 Women in Archaeology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press

(chapter in book) Lambert, Joseph B. 2005 Archaeological Chemisty. In Handbook of Archaeological Methods, Vol. 1. Herber D.G. Maschner and Christopher Chippendale, eds. Pp. 478-500. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.

Journal articles:

Hall, Stephen S. 2011 Unfrozen. National Geographic 220(5):188-231.

Kolman, Connie J., and Noreen Tuross 2000 Ancient DNA Analysis of Human Populations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 111(1):5-23.