Subject Guides: Anthropology: Write

Writing about Anthropology

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Research and Writing
by Cameron Library Last Updated Sep 20, 2023 6847 views this year

Below are some key resources for researching and writing in anthropology:

Anthropology: a Student's Guide to Theory & Method Stanley R. Barrett's Anthropology has long been a premiere sourcebook for students, providing a comprehensive overview of both theory and method in the discipline. In this updated second edition, Barrett's discussion of the origins and evolution of anthropology remains, augmented by sections addressing recent changes and ongoing questions in the field. The second edition of Anthropology adds important new material on questions of culture versus power, Max Weber's thought, the potential of applied anthropology, and the rise of public anthropology, while briefly touching on the anthropology of globalization. As in the previous edition, Barrett remains committed to exploring the impact of postmodernism on the practice and theory of anthropology, positing that it is a formless and ultimately short-lived approach. Including case studies to demonstrate real-world applications of the theories discussed, Barrett's Anthropology remains an essential text for students and teachers of anthropology.
Call Number: GN 33 B37 2009
FieldWorking: Reading & Writing Research FieldWorking is a fun and practical guide to research and writing. This acclaimed text incorporates examples by professional writers such as Peter Elbow, Joan Didion, Oliver Sacks, and Jamaica Kincaid, as well as student research projects on communities as diverse a truck stop, sports bar, homeless shelter, and horse sales barn, to help students identify and define their own subcultures and communities. In unique activities and comprehensive instruction, FieldWorking presents an ethnographic approach that empowers students to observe, listen, interpret, analyze, and write about the people and artifacts around them, while learning the essentials of college writing and research. FieldWorking is suitable for courses in English, anthropology, cultural studies, journalism — or in any discipline where research is required.
Call Number: GN 346 S86 2012
Writing the New Ethnography This text provides a foundational understanding of the writing process associated with innovative forms of ethnographic writing. It offers advice, examples, and exercises for every step in the ethnographic writng process, including field observations, notes, narrative development, and editing.
Call Number: GN 307.7 G66 2000

A Student’s Guide to Reading and Writing in Social Anthropology Prepared by the Harvard Department of Anthropology, this guide provides strategies for reading anthropological research, and writing assignments.

Campus Resources

Check out these excellent campus resources for assistance with your writing:

Academic Success Centre We provide professional support to help students strengthen their academic skills and achieve their academic goals – and want all students to succeed at university! If you have questions about how to tackle a paper, report, or exam, how to study or take notes, how to present calmly and effectively, how to plan your term, or manage a course project, thesis, or dissertation, we’re here to help! We meet with students one-on-one in individual appointments, and run group workshops throughout the year. We also offer customized services both on and off campus. Whatever your program or situation, we can help.
Centre for Writers - University of Alberta We offer free, one-on-one writing support to all students, instructors, staff, and alumni at the UofA – in any subject, discipline, program, or faculty, and at all levels of study and with any type of assignment (research papers, reports, theses, reflections, creative writing, grant proposals, résumés, presentations, articles, etc.).