Anthropology Thesis

By Ellen Fisher

If you are writing an anthropology thesis, undoubtedly you have taken or are taking courses that include topics like human variation, forensic anthropology, osteology, archaeological field experience, theoretical archaeology, general forensic science, a foreign language, and statistics.

Use these classes to inform your anthropology thesis writing. There’s no reason why you should go looking beyond your experience for thesis ideas when a multitude of them reside in your old textbooks.

General

The general option is the most inclusive of the options for earning your degree in Anthropology. If you are interested in pursuing your PhD or doing academic research in the future, you will get good practice during your anthropology thesis. Choose a topic that you may want to pursue during your career. Some great topics for your general anthropology thesis include:

• Ethnological and Indigenous Studies
• Demography
• Epidemiology
• Medical Anthropology
• Historic and Prehistoric Archaeology
• Applied Anthropology
• Skeletal Biology
• Paleoanthropology
• Women’s Studies
• Gender Issues

Linguistics

If you are interested in linguistics, languages, or linguistic analysis, the Salishian languages or English as a second language, you are probably headed toward a career focused on research. Make sure that your linguistics anthropology thesis includes at least one of the following:

• original research
• a report
• portfolio
• exhibit
• a scholarly work published in a peer reviewed journal
• similar scholarly contribution

Sociological and Cultural Heritage

When you choose sociological and cultural heritage as your focus, your anthropology thesis should look at methods and theories related to preserving the culture, heritage, and diversity of all people. Some good topics for your anthropology thesis include:

• Cultural Resource Management
• Historic Preservation
• Prehistoric Archaeology and similar archaeologically focused studies
• Ethno-history
• Tribal Recognition
• Culture Preservation
• Language Retention
• Museology
• Educational Anthropology
• Public Archaeology

Forensic Anthropology

Whether you are interested in a career as a forensic anthropologist, forensic scientist, osteo-archaeologist, bio-archaeologist, or other field that emphasizes the practical application of skills in skeletal analysis, you will want to focus your anthropology thesis your potential career interest in forensics. If your school does not maintain a research collection of human skeletal remains you will most likely choose the professional paper track and write a type of professional paper called a Comprehensive Case Report.

Some Print References

Annual Review of Anthropology , 1972-1994. (continues Biennial Review of Anthropology, 1959-1971.) - Summarizes trends in subfields of anthropology; contains extensive bibliographies on each topic.

• Barfield, Thomas, ed. The Dictionary of Anthropology. 1997. - Entries include issues, concepts, theories, methodologies and the major references on the topic.
• Anthropological Literature: an Index to Periodical Articles and Essays, 1983 to date. - Large article index for anthropology; no full text.
• BLPES/International Bibliography of Anthropology (formerly the International Bibliography of Social and Cultural Anthropology). 1955-1959; 1988 to date. (continues: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences: Anthropology, 1960-1987.) - Extensive coverage of books and journal articles; annual.
• Web of Science/SSCI - Social Science Citation Index, 1969 to date.- The Institute for Scientific Information publishes the Social Sciences Citation Index, which provides access to current bibliographic information and cited references, covering more than 1,700 of the world’s leading social sciences journals in a broad range of disciplines.
• Sociological Abstracts, 1952 to date.- Main index to the discipline.

Web Links

• WWW Virtual Library: Anthropology – http://vlib.anthrotech.com/ - Extensive site for academic resources.
• Anthromorphemics: anthropology glossary - http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/glossary/index2.html
• Anthropology Resources on the Internet - http://www.aaanet.org/resinet.htm