ARPA 101 The Archaeology of Civilisations

This FAQ will help you to find academic materials for your Archaeology studies.

Where do I start?
How do I find books and articles?
Archaeology journal databases
What about Google?
Referencing and more

Where do I start?

Before starting to look for references there are some basic skills you need:

Know how to tell the difference between citations for a book, chapter in a book, journal article and so on. To make it easy, check eSKILLS UNE's online tutorial on interpreting citations.
Learn how to identify academic journals instead of simply using Google.
Work out your keywords and how to combine them. Have a look at University of Sydney's excellent You-tube on how to search smarter and faster.

How do I find books and articles?

There are a number of tools available to you:

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

For an overview of a new topic or the meanings of jargon words there are online encyclopedias and dictionaries by reputable publishers such as Oxford.
Wikipedia and Google can be useful when starting out, but they are not considered to be academically reputable sources and should not be cited in assignments.

Summon

Summon is the University Library's new way for you to search for journal articles and books at the same time. Summon will link directly to online articles and e-books, and tell you if UNE holds specific books and journals in print.
Try this help video to see how Summon works.
Here's an example of a keyword search for articles and books on the origin of the Andean states:

? is a wild card that looks for one letter and is useful for different spellings, such as archaeology and archeology.
* is another wild card, used for truncation. archaeolog* will find archaeology, archaeology's, archaeologist, archaeologists, archaeological and archaeologically.
In Summon (like Google) it is best to use "quotation marks" to find a phrase.
Other searches you may like to experiment with are:
"andean state" origin*
arch?eol* inca
Use the Publication Date choices on the left hand side of your results if you only want articles published after 1990.

UNE catalogue

If you can't find the journal article or book you want online, then use the catalogue to check if the Library holds it.
The catalogue will not give you references to individual articles in a journal or chapters in a book. However, it will let you know if UNE holds the journal or book you want, in print or online.
Here's an example of how to find out if UNE holds a particular journal:

This journal is held in print at Call Number P994.01/A938 from 1977 to 2002. If you are an off-campus student and want a copy of an article emailed to you (for free), please use the request forms.
Australian Archaeology is also held online. Click on the entry that says:
Australian Archaeology [electronic resource]
and then on the date range where it says:
Full text [01/06/1987 to present]
This will take you directly to the journal in Informit so you can then look for the article you want.
e-books work the same way. Look for where the record says Click here to view and you will go directly to the e-book in whatever package it is in. UNE has a number of e-book databases and includes links to some free ones with academic material.

Archaeology journal databases

Have a look at the Archaeology & Anthropology Library Subject Guide to find out the Key databases to use. Bookmark this webpage (add to favourites) so it's easy to return to it.

JSTOR

JSTOR is an important journal database for Archaeology, with PDF articles available for over 1,000 academic journals.
Please note that JSTOR is an archival database with journals back to volume 1. You won't see volumes for the most recent three to five years. Use a different database (such as Wiley Online Library or SpringerLink or Web of Science) if you want current articles.
When you go to JSTOR you will see the Basic search box. Click on the Advanced search link underneath.
Here's an example of how to search JSTOR:

JSTOR looks in the full-text for your keywords and therefore results in thousands of hits, so it is important to limit your search before using the Search button.
Type your keywords into the search boxes.
Tick the Article box, limit your Date Range (after 1990) and Language (English).
Lastly Narrow by discipline and tick the boxes next to Anthropology, Archaeology, and Paleontology.
Finally use the Search button to see a display of results in order of relevance.
Click on the PDF link underneath an article to check its usefulness. The first time you do this a copyright notice will pop up. Once it's accepted you should be able to open other articles without having to go through the same process.

Web of Science

Web of Science is a high quality journal database that provides references for the sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences. It is one of a number of databases accessed through the Web of Knowledge platform.
You can access Web of Science through the Archaeology & Anthropology Library Subject Guide.
Try a search such as:
ande* and arch?eolog*
in the Topic search box.
When you see your list of results they are displayed Publication Date - newest to oldest.
Choose to Sort by: Times Cited - highest to lowest and this will indicate which research articles have been widely discussed.
Click on the title of an article to see its details. An example is this image of Climate variation and the rise and fall of an Andean civilization (it's not live).
If you want to see the references in Web of Science that have cited Climate variation and the rise and fall of an Andean civilization, click on the number 86 next to Times Cited underneath the reference citation.
On the right hand side of the screen the Times Cited number may be higher because it will find citations in Web of Science plus other UNE databases on the same Web of Knowledge platform.
The number of Times Cited will also increase over time as more articles use the reference for their own research.
If you want to see the references that were cited by Binford et al when they wrote the article, then click on the number 53 next to Cited References.
If you like visual imagery, try out the Citation Map.
If you want more articles that are on the same topic, click on view related records.
Web of Science does not provide full-text articles, just the references. If you want to read an article, click on the Find It button

or try a Journal Title search of the catalogue to see if UNE has the article somewhere else online or in print.

What about Google?

Everybody uses Google, but it is difficult to tell if something you found is academic and authoritative. eSKILLS UNE's tutorial on Evaluating information gives you hints on how to do this. Nonetheless, your lecturers generally do not like you using Google.
Have you tried Google Scholar? Its name is a good hint that you will find quality, scholarly literature on all sorts of topics.
If you access Google Scholar through the myLibrary tab in myUNE
or click on the Google Scholar link in the footer for any of your moodle units
or use the grey Google tab from the Library
Google Scholar knows what UNE holds. You will see a Full-Text @ UNE link on the right hand side of the screen if an article is available online.
For more help on Google Scholar and Google Books try this tutorial on Web research. Google Books does not know if UNE has copies, so if you want a particular book use a Title search in the catalogue.

Referencing and more

The Academic Skills Office has many Fact Sheets to help you with your studies. Writing an annotated bibliography provides excellent guidelines.
Citing your references in the correct referencing style is important. Check with your lecturer as to what is accepted.
Different journals require different referencing styles. Use ulrichsweb on the Journal Articles & Databases A-Z list to look for the name of a journal. Its entry will tell you if it is refereed and give you a link to the journal's website.
Look for links such as Notes for Contributors, Style Guide or Guide for Authors to see examples of the referencing style they expect.
Sometimes your references will use an abbreviation instead of the full journal title.
All That JAS: Journal Abbreviation Sources is useful to find the full name instead of the abbreviation, or the proper abbreviation if you have the full title of a journal.
Genamics JournalSeek provides descriptions of journals, their abbreviations, subjects covered and links to each journal website.