Cheap Anthropology Books

as a part of my research project, I needed a chapter from the book Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns. The copies at both ASU and U of A were checked out, so I headed to Amazon.com.

Delightfully, there were seven or eight used copies available, ranging in price from $10 to $54. I snapped up the $10 copy, and it arrived just four days later. I wouldn't do this for every source I might need, but this looks like a book I would own, so I went for it.

In Amazon's Marketplace (books sold by Amazon customers), one can find numerous out-of-print archaeology and anthropology books and reports, often for very reasonable prices. There are a surprising number of excavation reports available (e.g. Archaeological investigations at the Arroyo Hondo site: Third field report, 1972).

You can even browse Anthropology or Archaeology books by subtopic. Take a look at these starting points, and use the subtopics in the left-hand nav:

Archaeology Books at Amazon

Anthropology Books at Amazon

You can sort the results by price, customer rating, etc. I've also found several of my textbooks over the last few years on Amazon, usually paying significantly less than the used prices at the university bookstore.

Not too early to think about Field School

Most summer field schools begin accepting applications after the first of the year, and that is right around the corner. I'm starting my search now.

Another student in the seminar I'm taking at the University of Arizona worked at Baking Pot last year, a large Classic capital in Belize. The Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) project is entering its 20th year, and there is still a lot of work to do there. I'm putting this one at the top of my list for several reasons:

1. It's in Belize, where the official language is English;
2. Instead of living in tents, you get to stay in a modest hotel;
3. The amount of time you stay is flexible (minumum of 2 weeks).

I also see that academic credit may be obtained for the course through Galen University/University of Indianapolis (But the additional costs for the classes are significant).

If you are interested in attending a field school in the Maya area, this might be a good choice. As I continue my search, I'll compile a list of field schools and create a permanent link to a post which can just keep growing.

Understand University Procedures

I found myself in a bit of a predicament when I went to register for Spring classes.

I'm taking a graduate seminar at the University of Arizona in Tucson this semester, so I am not currently enrolled at ASU. Before I did this I checked with my department, and I was told that I could take one semester off from ASU without any problems, but that if I took two or more off consecutively, I would need to re-apply and get admitted all over again.

It turns out that the person in the anthropology department was misinformed, and when I chose not to enroll this semester, I was dropped from the university. When I called to find out why I could not register, I was told that:

1. I would need to fill out an all-new application to the university ("Better start it right now, sir."). This includes listing my high school, all colleges I attended...
   
2. Because of a high volume of applications, I should not expect an answer (i.e., am I accepted) for at least three weeks...
3. I would have to move to the latest catalog (i.e., my degree requirements might change)
4. I should have filed a Leave of Absence form to avoid the whole mess.

The lesson here: Ask the right questions, at the right time, of the right people. Know the process at your university!

I have worked it all out, and I will be able to register. All is well, but it was a wild ride.

Taking the GRE General Test

I've been putting the GRE off for years... so I finally scheduled myself to take it (and paid the $$$), hoping that the pressure of the deadline would motivate me to study.

That's not exactly how it worked out. I ended up only studying the night before the test, using the ETS Test Prep CD that I received from ETS after registering for the GRE. Even so, I managed a 660 on the Verbal portion, and an 800 on the Quantitative.

The good thing about the prep software is that the interface looks just like the real one on the computer-based test, so you should definitely take all of the practice tests that are included on the CD.


SOME ADVICE

Stuff you should know about taking the computer-based test:

1. You must answer every question as it appears-- you cannot skip questions and come back later. This significantly alters your test strategy, if you have taken previous standardized tests on paper.
2. WATCH THE CLOCK during your essay portion. I was still re-typing a sentence in my conclusion paragraph when the screen went blank and then told me my time was up.
3. Bring an energy bar (I prefer BALANCE Bars) and leave it in your locker for a snack during your 10-minute break.

Stuff to know for the Verbal portion:

1. How to comprehend what you read.
2. Lots of vocabulary. The analogies are the hardest part, since you need to understand all the possible nuanced meanings of the words.

Basically, either you know this stuff or you don't. If you don't, then you need to set aside several months to improve your reading comprehension and your vocab.

Stuff you should learn, understand, and memorize before the test:

1. The Pythagorean Theorem. Several of the quantitative questions ask you to solve problems which involve right triangles.
2. The formulas for both the area and the circumference of a circle.
3. Remember that the ratio of a square's side to its diagonal is 1 to the square root of 2 (1.414).
4. The area of a right triangle is its base times its height, DIVIDED BY TWO.
5. Be able to solve a system of linear or quadratic equations.

General strategies:

1. DO PRACTICE TESTS. These help you assess your current state, and get you accustomed to the format.
2. GO TO BED EARLY. In the final 24 hours prior to the test, a good night's sleep is worth way more than any more studying.
3. DON'T FREAK OUT. If you know basic mathematics and some properties, you can probably figure out most of the answers. I solved one problem where they wanted me to compute a value in a series the right way, but I just did it by hand, working out each term individually. I got it right.

Good luck. and remember-- you can always take it again.

Now I know that NAU's Anthropology Program is Selective

Here's what I have:

• forty-two credit hours in Anthropology coursework, GPA: 3.97
• A certificate that says I won the Undergraduate Research Assistantship award at ASU
• 4 weeks of archaeological field school experience
• 2 years of research work with a professor
• Glowing recommendations from two professors

Here's what I don't have:

• Acceptance in the graduate Anthropology program at Northern Arizona University.

I returned from a college-hunting trip (for my daughter) in Colorado to find two letters from NAU. The one from the Anthropology Department was somewhat friendly, stating that either my application was not competitive enough or that my research interests did not line up well with those of the professors in the department. The letter from the NAU Graduate College was much more blunt: "Your application was not competitive."

I've already asked the graduate coordinator to please explain to me the aspects of my application which failed to meet their standards, and hopefully this will be a productive thing. Right now, I'm still pretty depressed about the whole thing-- and I keep wondering which is true: 1. They just don't know me, or 2. I'm not good enough.

There are some good things I can take from this:

1. NAU's program really is pretty competitive! If I'd been accepted, I would not have know for sure.
2. You can always do a better job on your application. I've identified about twenty things I would do differently if I could (and I will do them for the next one).
3. I can finish my B.A. in Anthropology. Having the B.A. is a good thing-- it means I'll finish my foreign language work, and have a minimum credential for moving on to graduate studies. Who knows-- this may have worked against me at NAU.
4. I have plenty of time to finish my research with Dr. Martin. By May of next year, I'll have my B.A. and two publications.
5. I can still choose something other than Archaeology. I've been having doubts about choosing Archaeology as my subdiscipline, so now I have time to reconsider.
6. I have another year to pay off debt and save. If I'm planning to go part time at work, I better be as financially secure as I can be.

As depressing as this has been, I have to remember that I'm in the middle of a very demanding graduate seminar. Now I REALLY need to do well in this.

I couldn't help myself: I already registered for next semester at ASU. I'm taking the two remaining courses I need for my Anthro degree, except for the foreign language component. For Spanish, I'll take two summer sessions starting in June, and I'll have completed my four courses total by May of 2009. Yep, I should be able to graduate.

As for graduate school, I'll need to see what happens. I might still try the Online Masters in Applie dAnthropology at UNT, or I might commute to the U of A in Tucson. But for the next 15 months, I know I'll be right here at ASU.

You don't have to have a B.A. in Anthro to go to Grad School

Okay, so I still need two Anthropology courses to graduate (Linguistics and another Physical anthro course), plus a "Literacy & Critical Thinking" course, and my foreign language.

It's going to be pretty tough to get all of these completed by the summer of 2008, and even if I succeed, I can't take any more courses that I want to take. There's a really great class being offered (for seniors only) that includes a lot of research, and I still want to take a good Mesoamerican archaeology class.

I decided to take up the subject once last time with the undergraduate advisor, Jennifer Gordon. We talked for quite a bit, and in the end, she agreed that if I was planning to apply to graduate school for the Fall of 2008, then I only needed to worry about getting the courses that a graduate program would care about. They are NOT going to care whether I took a "Literacy" course, and they won't even care if I never finish a B.A. in Anthropology (I have nearly 40 credit hours in Anthro, plus an earlier B.S. in Computer Science).

So, I'm going to continue taking Spanish, and then take Anthropology courses that I want to take (i.e., that are in the area I wish to pursue as a graduate student).

I have dropped the courses I was originally registered to take in the Fall (2007), and instead signed up for ASB 337, Prehispanic Civilizations of Middle America. I'm going to take Spanish 101 this summer, and continue with 102 in the Fall. In the Spring of 2008, I hope to take Linguistics and keep going on the Spanish. By then, I will have applied to graduate school, and I can just kiss my undergraduate life goodbye.

Of course, I have a final exam THIS semester, happening one week from today... so I better keep my mind on the present, for now.

Not so fast there, pardner.

I met with my mentor the other day (all undergraduate anthropology majors at ASU have a randomly-assigned mentor) to discuss my future. As you might know from a previous post, I've been feeling a certain urgency to get moving toward grad school, so I thought I would float a few of my ideas with Dr. Schwartz.

He listened to my concerns and my ideas, and then said what he had already told me six months earlier: "You need to figure out what you want to do, and then go for it."

*sigh*

He's right, of course. I pointed out to him that even though I like the idea of doing something in Anthropology that can make a difference (e.g., Medical Anthropology), it still didn't excite me as much as reading about new discoveries such as the Olmec writing or the Dikika child.

So, even though I feel as though I must apply to graduate school Real Soon Now, perhaps I'm being a little hasty. I've decided to continue on at ASU for a while, taking interesting courses and hoping I get that one big inspiration. I have already pre-registered for next semester, signing up for two courses:

• ASM 246 Human Origins (taught by Donald Johanson!)
• ASB 362 The Neolithic Revolution and Its Consequences

My wife will shoot me if I don't drop one of them (she feels that a full-time job, three kids, one wife, and an ongoing research project with Dr. Martin means I can only handle one course at a time), so I better figure out which one has to go. If I win the Lotto between now and then however, I might actually add another course!

I can still change my mind, of course... applications are not due at NAU until February 15th.