Locating Scholarly Sources

This week's assignment is intended to help you familiarize yourself with using the Ashford University Library for anthropological research in preparation for your Final Research Paper. You will also become familiar with identifying the thesis statement in articles.

Different fields of study use distinct methodologies to collect data, and each field utilizes specific databases to locate scholarly articles. For this assignment, you will be locating articles and texts from a variety of databases that are commonly used in anthropological research.

In addition to being able to locate articles, it is important to be able to identify the thesis statements of the articles or texts to make sure they will be useful in your research.

You have already been assigned three articles from the Article Selector Quiz. To begin, please locate each of the articles in the Ashford University Library. You should be locating three different articles.

For help with how to locate these articles, please view the library tutorial Finding an Article with a Citation.

After you have located the articles, the next step is to identify the thesis statement that is presented in each article. For help with identifying the thesis statements, please use the Ashford Writing Center's Thesis Generator tool and/or visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Writing Center.

After you have identified the thesis statements, please complete this "Locating Scholarly Sources" worksheet. Submit your completed worksheet via Waypoint.

Must use the following articles:

Gooding, S. S. (May, 1996). At the boundaries of religious identity: Native American religions and American legal culture. Numen, 43(2), 157-183. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Bialecki, J. (2008). Between stewardship and sacrifice: agency and economy in a Southern California charismatic church. Journal of The Royal Anthropological Institute, 14(2), 372-390. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database. 

Hurd, D. A. (1997). The monster inside: 19th century racial constructs in the 24th century mythos of Star Trek. Journal of Popular Culture, 31(1), 23-35. Retrieved from ProQuest database.