Skip to Main Content
Library Guides

Anthropology

Using the Internet

As a research tool, the internet should be approached with caution. It should be a supplement to your academic endeavour and not a replacement for it.

Most people use search engines when looking for information on the web. Google, for example, is very well known - the most widely used and one of the better search engines for coverage and use.

However:

  •  It can only search what is sometimes called the 'surface web'. It cannot reach many academic articles which are usually held in subscription only databases - the sort your library purchases - so you may miss a lot of useful information.
  • It has no editorial function – it simply finds things. What it does find can be biased, out of date or often just plain wrong.
  • It may bring you the largest number of results – but they are often irrelevant or poor quality. Quantity is no substitute for quality.

This is true of all search engines. Different search engines will search different parts of the web. Although there will be overlaps they will all unearth some different results.

Have a look at this Quality of Information section from our Library Skills Guide to learn more about evaluating the information you find (use the menu on the left of that section to navigate to the different pages).

Here are some good quality websites specific to Anthropology that you may find interesting or useful...

Anthro Life

Anthro Life

A monthly letter of social science stories, provocations and happenings.

Anthrodendum

Anthrodendum

Anthrodendum is a group blog devoted to ‘doing anthropology in public’ — providing well-written relevant discussion of sociocultural anthropology that everyone will find accessible. Authors range from graduate students to tenured professors to anthropologists working outside the academy.

Anthropology Matters

Anthropology Matters

Anthropology Matters is the official postgraduate network of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK (the ASA), including the open-access peer-reviewed Anthropology Matters Journal and an email list alerting members to jobs, grants, conferences, and other relevant issues.

Anthropology.net

Anthropology.net

Anthropology.net’s mission is to promote and facilitate discussion, review research, extend stewardship of resources, and disseminate knowledge, seeking the widest possible engagement with all segments of society - including professionals, students, and anyone who is interested in advancing knowledge and enhancing awareness of anthropology.

Anthropology News

Anthropology News

The American Anthropological Association’s (AAA) award-winning member magazine.

Anthropology: Open Access Journal

Anthropology: Open Access Journal

An open access and peer-reviewed journal that covers various aspects of humans within past and present societies in context to all parameters with evolutionary mechanism. The journal includes socio-cultural, linguistic, biophysical trends undergone and continuing in relation humans with respect to life style they lead.

Association of Social Anthropologists

Association of Social Anthropologists

The ASA is the professional association for social anthropology. It was founded in 1946 to promote the study and teaching of anthropology and to uphold the interests and status of the discipline, primarily in the UK, but also extending to the Commonwealth.

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology

A growing open-access teaching and learning resource. Its goal is to facilitate access to scholarship in Social Anthropology for experts and non-experts worldwide. All entries are written and peer-reviewed by leading academics.

Discover Anthropology

Discover Anthropology

Website is operated by the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Education Outreach Programme. The main aim of the website is to encourage a wider appreciation and understanding of anthropology by functioning as a hub for communication, gathering information, accessing events, activities and resources, for those interested in learning more about the subject.

The Geek Anthropologist

The Geek Anthropologist

The Geek Anthropologist is a blog where geek culture and all things geek are analysed through the perspective of socio-cultural anthropology.

Internet Archive

Internet Archive is a really useful non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. With free registration, items can be read/used online, "borrowed" for a period of time, and some out of copyright material can be downloaded in a variety of formats.

Open Anthropology Cooperative

Open Anthropology Cooperative

The OAC Team is dedicated to “open access, open membership, open to sharing new ideas, open to whatever the organization might do or become; open to everyone, as in ‘open source’.” Website currently on hiatus but their archive of material is fully accessible.

Sapiens

Sapiens

A digital magazine about the human world. SAPIENS was launched with a mission to bring anthropology—the study of being human—to the public.

Savage Minds

Savage Minds

The precursor site to Anthrodendum (see above), but a lot of useful archive material is still available here.

Violent Metaphors

Violent Metaphors

Thoughts from the intersection of science, pseudoscience and conflict.