Overview
ANTH 407 provides students with an opportunity to investigate problems or issues in greater depth than is normally possible in an introductory course. For example, a student who has taken an introductory course on Arctic or African ethnology may wish to study a specific problem such as kinship, ritual, or cultural ecology of the peoples of that region. Both the regional and theoretical focus of the course are issues that students discuss with the course professor before being allowed to register in ANTH 407.
This is a flexible course. Students, in consultation with the course professor, design their own course objectives, and carry out tasks enabling them to accomplish those objectives, guided and supported by the course textbook, course professor, and staff members at Athabasca University Library or other libraries to which the students have access. Upon completion of ANTH 407, students will have designed and carried out a program of research and written a major paper (approximately 40 to 50 pages, double spaced) on one of the world's culture areas.
Outline
ANTH 407 is divided into four parts, each focusing on a particular set of tasks.
- Part 1: Proposal—Statement of research area and provisional research question, and preliminary annotated bibliography
- Part 2: Research Paper Outline
- Part 3: Research Paper Draft
- Part 4: Final Research Paper
Evaluation
To receive credit for ANTH 407, you must achieve a composite course grade of at least a D (50 percent). The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Proposal | 20% |
| Research Paper Outline | 20% |
| Research Paper Draft | 20% |
| Final Research Paper | 40% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
This course either does not have a course package or the textbooks are open-source material and available to students at no cost. This course has a Course Administration and Technology Fee, but students are not charged the Course Materials Fee.
The textbook, Thinking It Through: A Practical Guide to Essay Writing, by Heather Avery is out of print, so it is no longer included in your course package. You may borrow a copy of the book from the Athabasca University Library or use a similar resource, such as The Craft of Research, by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, to help you conduct a literature-based research project, The Craft of Research is available as an electronic book (accessible online through the AU Library), or in hard copy from the Athabasca University Library.
Other materials
The course materials also include a student manual and study guide.