What to Do When Writing an Anthropology Research Paper?

United States, January 25, 2016 (Newswire.com) - I, personally, got a closer look at anthropology when I had a chance to see the Bones TV series. Precisely at this moment, I was able to comprehend the whole complexity of this vast area of study and difficulty of every aspect that seemed so easy at first look. Maybe, the main reason for the success of this TV series was that an extremely complex subject was presented as an attractive toy for a baby, or a yummy candy for a toddler. However, there was something else that lied beneath the attractive concept of the TV-show, something that was hiding between the facts. None of us is truly able to understand the depths of expertise that is required to be the real anthropology professional.

But what do you really need to know, if you have to write an anthropology research paper? Here and now, we are going to tell you in brief what you need to keep in mind when it comes to writing an anthropology research paper.

We hope you know what a research paper is, but in case if you don't, here is the reminder:

A research paper of any type and any field of expertise is basically focused on a certain topic of present interest, and, hopefully, contains an innovative theory or a new analytical approach or method that contributes to the overall theoretical and practical study of anthropology, or any other kind of study.

The first thing that you should learn about an anthropological research paper is what anthropology is, what are its types, and what disciplines these types include. You cannot start writing your research paper without this knowledge because anthropology is an interdisciplinary field where all its types interchange and cross between each other to create the whole picture of what you present in your paper. It means that if you write about the human body and its bones, you should know the basics of human anatomy and forensic anthropology, as well as biological anthropology to answer questions set in your paper. On the other hand, if your paper is focused on the change of languages of the same language family or group of languages, in such a case, linguistic anthropology should be one of the core disciplines.

In any case, we decided to include a brief description of anthropology and its basic types that may become a part of your research paper.

Anthropology originates from the Greek word that means the study of humanity (however, there are many theories that prove that this term originates from the so-called New Latin word, e.i., it was created by mixing Latin and Greek terms that combined into one word). And that’s all what it’s all about, about humanity and how our communication with each other changes over time, in what we believe, how we behave and how human behavior changes over time, and what we are as human beings, and how the constitution of the human body and skeleton changes over time.

American educational system outlines four major fields of anthropology:

• Biological Anthropology;
• Cultural Anthropology;
• Linguistic Anthropology;
• Archeology;

Each of these fields may interweave with each other on every level. For example, biological anthropology includes several other subclasses and topics for research papers that vary significantly, depending upon the field and its subclasses. That is why you need to remember several things before, during and after writing an anthropology research paper.

Know on Which Side Bread is Buttered

What I mean is that you must know for sure what your topic is about and define whether you are capable of covering and developing it. The secret of the successful anthropology research paper is to choose a topic that will be approved by your adviser or tutor. As it was mentioned many times before, the principal strategy for writing and submitting a well-structured and A-grade anthropology research paper is to be interested and committed to the topic of your research. You should be keen on discovering something new or add some new methodology or approach to the already existing field of expertise or theory. Without your personal interest, this work is meaningless and useless as it is.

Formatting Styles Awareness

This section is devoted to the formatting style awareness, as many students (even students of anthropology departments) fail to receive good grades because of non-compliance with rules of formatting applied to different styles. It is worth noting that Anthropology Departments often have different requirements as to formatting and citation styles of scientific documents. For example, some Anthropological and Sociological Universities and their respective departments prefer the ASA formatting style to many others. Students of these departments and Universities, in their turn, should be aware of this requirement and follow it to submit an A-grade paper. Please consult the ASA style guide for more information, or you may google some examples of an anthropology research paper with the respective formatting style to use them as your guide.

Language of Anthropology

As anthropology is a complex and multidiscipline field, its language is very complex as well. Your research paper should be appropriately constructed, organized and structured scholar / scientific document with the use of correspondent terms and vocabulary. If you visited courses on creative writing, do not dig into taffeta style of novels and creative articles in your research paper. As it was mentioned in previous articles, the language of science is strict and precise. Therefore, the language used by you in your research paper must correspond to the language style of this particular sphere. It should be noted that anthropology is interdisciplinary, and that is why you shouldn’t be bound to the one discipline, as you may need some more information from others disciplines as well.

Data Analysis

You should be extra careful, when you start analyzing data gathered for the paper. For example, in a forensic anthropology research paper, data analysis may be based on particular real-life examples, and it means that you should be extra careful, when it comes to analyzing these examples, since they are the framework of your paper. The same thing is going on with the medical anthropology research papers, however, this particular field is thought to be a part of biological anthropology, and may be somehow related to the forensic anthropology, but it needs a great deal of knowledge in any case.

Proofreading and Editing

Another important detail of every custom assignment is to proofread your work after its completion. The best option is to reread your work once again after a while. It is always better to proofread your research paper in a week or two, but if you are pressed for time, you can reread it in a couple of days. Another great option is to ask your peer, or friend to read your work and give his/her opinion. Nonetheless, please mind that it is better to trust an anthropology research paper to someone who is knowledgeable in anthropology, or someone who knows at least its basics. You must admit that it is useless to ask to read this work a friend who knows nothing about anthropology and, what’s most important, has no idea what the goal of your writing is.

Finally, we would like to underline once again the necessity of reading lots of literature related to the sphere of your professional interests. It means that you should read not only books in anthropology, but also some scientific journals, magazines, useful reviews and news that can enlarge your knowledge on the subject. Best of luck in all your future anthropological endeavors! 

The article is written by Pro-Papers.com