Background Reading

Background reading: What did David do and what did he find?

Here are the steps David took to locate a definition of the concept of tradition for his paper:

Action	Step	Examples
	First, David searched the library’s collection of print reference books using the catalog. He used the keyword “tradition” and limited the search to the Reference section.	Click here to see what this looked like
	He didn’t find anything related to anthropology in the results list.
	Next, he tried searching Reference Universe.	See this
	He searched using only the keyword tradition. He got 390 results. Most of the ones on the first page were not what he was looking for, and he didn’t think it was worth his time to read through all 390.
	He then tried searching using keywords in combination: "tradition relgion," "tradition anthropology," "cultural anthropology"
Hmmm...	Still, nothing that looked right for his question.
	At this point, he was a little frustrated. Why was he not finding a straightforward definition of what a tradition was?
	Then he had an idea.
	What he was looking for was a definition of tradition in the study of anthropology. Why not try looking for a dictionary for anthropology?
	He searched the catalog using the keywords “dictionary” and “anthropology” and didn't limit it to reference, in case there was something in the regular collection.
	This time, he hit pay dirt: The Dictionary of Anthropology.
	He browsed the electronic version, and saw that it did indeed have an article on Tradition.	See this.
	Even better, this article had a list of suggested reading at the end, and he was able to track down a book and two articles for more in-depth discussion.
	Mission accomplished!

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