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Ethnology Project – Anthropology 1100 – Due Thursday, December 2 at noon in lecture
Overview
For this project you will be selecting two cultures and a single topic. You will write a paper comparing and
contrasting this topic in your two cultures. Topics can include (but are not limited to)…
 Gender
 Childrearing
 Religion
 Culture Change
 Social Stratification
 Marriage
 Kinship
 Subsistence Strategies / Economic Systems
 Political Organization
 Health / Healthcare / Healing
 Arts / Music / Entertainment
When choosing your two cultures, at least one of them must be a culture that was not included in Culture
Sketches. Your other culture either may or may not be included in Culture Sketches.
So an example of an acceptable project would be subsistence strategies among the Ju/’hoansi (San) and the
Bemba (one topic – one culture from Culture Sketches, one culture not from Culture Sketches). Religion
among the Zulu and the Apache is also an example of an acceptable project (one topic – two cultures not
from Culture Sketches). You can also research a culture you belong to (such as U.S. culture) as one of the
cultures, but for this paper be sure to supplement your personal experiences with external secondary sources.
Finding your sources
All of your sources should be either obtainable through the College of DuPage online databases or through
the assigned books for this course. You must use at least one source besides the assigned books for this
course, and you can use up to as many sources as you would like! I recommend using at least three different
sources because utilizing more sources usually strengthens your analysis, gives you different perspectives to
think about, and results in a more interesting paper. Effectively utilizing a number of sources also may
decrease the likelihood of plagiarism.
JSTOR is a good resource to find sources. To access this, go to http://www.cod.edu/library. Click on
“Databases.” Click on “Social Sciences.” Click on JSTOR. At this point enter your last name and library
barcode number if you would like to access the database off campus. Then type in keywords you wish to
search.
Another good resource to use to find sources is EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier. To access this, go to
http://www.cod.edu/library. Click on “Databases.” Click on “Anthropology” (under Social Sciences). Click
on “Academic Search Premier.” Again, at this point enter your last name and library barcode number if you
would like to access the database off campus. Then type in keywords you wish to search.
Another nice resource to use to find sources is Anthrosource. To access this, go to
http://www.cod.edu/library. Click on “Databases.” Click on “Anthropology” (under Social Sciences). Click
on “Anthrosource.” Again, at this point enter your last name and library barcode number if you would like to
access the database off campus. Then type in keywords you wish to search.
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An additional resource to find sources is Academic OneFile. To access this, go to
http://www.cod.edu/library. Click on “Databases.” Click on “Anthropology” (under Social Sciences). Click
on “Academic OneFile.” At this point enter your last name and library barcode number if you would like to
access the database off campus. Then type in keywords you wish to search.
Encyclopedia Britannica may be a helpful resource for you as well. To access this, go to
http://www.cod.edu/library. Click on “Databases.” Click on “Dictionaries & Encyclopedias” (under
Reference). Click on Encyclopedia Britannica. At this point enter your last name and library barcode
number if you would like to access the database off campus. Then type in keywords you wish to search.
Please do use other sources besides just the encyclopedia, though, for this project.
It is NOT acceptable to use and/or cite Wikipedia for this project or any other websites that cannot be
accessed through the College of DuPage library’s online databases. You may want to use regular websites to
give you starting ideas for your project, though. For example, the website
http://www.freewebs.com/worldcultures/ lists some ideas for cultures that you may want to write about.
Write Up
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Describe/discuss the topic in the two cultures you have selected in your paper.
Please be sure to paraphrase! Describe the topic and restate the information in your own words!
Within the body of your paper, cite where you obtained that particular information (in parentheses
include the author’s last name and the year of publication or the page number where you obtained
that particular information).
Compare and contrast the topic you have chosen in the two cultures.
Try to develop some interpretations as to why aspects of this topic are similar or different in the two
cultures (you may want to consider environmental/economic factors, historical factors, culture
contact, functions of this behavior, prevalence of this behavior throughout the world, etc., as possible
interpretations)
Discuss if you found anything about this topic in these two cultures particularly interesting or
surprising, and why you found this particularly interesting or surprising.
You must turn in a hard copy of this paper to me in class on the due date/time, and you must email
me a copy of your paper in a Microsoft Word file as well by the due date/time for your paper not to
be considered late.
Your paper should be a minimum of a full 5 pages in length, not including the bibliography (you are
free to go over this length if you need more space).
Please use 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins.
Please do not place lines in between paragraphs.
Include a bibliography with all of your sources (include the author, article/book/section title, journal
title, publisher, year of publication, database name where you retrieved that source, page number if
applicable). Only use sources that are either obtainable through the College of DuPage library online
databases or through the assigned books for this course.
Please spell check and proofread your work before submitting it.
You are welcome to discuss your assignment with me and/or give me a draft to review before the
assignment is due. My comments and suggestions may help you write a better paper and get a better
grade. Also, if you struggle with grammar/paper organization/other aspects of writing, I strongly
suggest going to see the COD writing center for assistance with this assignment as well. Hours and
locations of the COD writing center can be found at http://www.cod.edu/write/hours.htm.
If there are any questions on this or if you are having difficulty finding/accessing sources, please let
me know this well before the paper is due!!! I would be happy to help.