FamilySearch Wiki:Social Life and Customs Research

Project Leader
Amber Larsen

Purpose
To enrich the Social Life and Customs pages for all country pages on the Wiki, providing background information to their family history in that location.

Google Sheets
Link to spreadsheet

Part 1 - FamilySearch Catalog
1. Go to the FamilySearch Catalog. 2. Type in the respective country name in the search bar, then click Search. 3. Open the Social Life and Customs dropdown in the results list.


 * Note: If there is no result relating to Social Life and Customs, go straight to Part 2.

4. Open each link under the Social Life and Customs dropdown, and enter in the respective information into the spreadsheet.


 * Note: To add the URL to the Item Link column in this spreadsheet, highlight the entire link in the URL bar at the top of your web browser. You then have two options of how to Copy/Paste.
 * 1. Right-click on the highlighted URL link and select Copy, and right-click in the respective cell in the spreadsheet, and select Paste.
 * OR
 * 2. Highlight the URL link, and use the Control + C on your keyboard (Command + C if on a Mac) to Copy, select the respective cell in the spreadsheet, and use Control + V on your keyboard to paste the URL into that cell (Command + V if on a Mac).

Part 2 - Google Scholar
1. After you have completed the task list included in Part 1 above, go to Google Scholar. 2. Type in the name of the respective country, followed by "social life and customs".


 * Example: "Afghanistan social life and customs"

3. Examine both the titles of each result, as well as any brief content or summary given in the results page, to see if it has content related strictly to social life and customs.


 * DO NOT INCLUDE: If the book/article seems to be primarily focused on government/politics, economy, warfare, controversy, etc. do not add it to the spreadsheet.
 * DO INCLUDE: Books largely containing information regarding aspects of culture, social life, local customs, practices, etc.
 * Only pull results for the spreadsheet from the first two pages of results of your search.

4. If any entries seem to be of valuable Social Life and Customs content, add the respective content to the spreadsheet.

Part 3 - JSTOR
1. Go to JSTOR. 2. In the searchbox, type in the name of the respective country, followed by "social life and customs". 3. On the left-hand side of the results screen is a section called Subject. If available, check each of the following boxes one at a time:


 * Anthropology, Folklore, [location] Studies, Population Studies, Social Work, Urban Studies (as well as any others you feel are particularly related to Social Life and Customs).

4. Examine both the titles of each result, as well as any information given in the results page, to see if it has content related strictly to Social Life and Customs.


 * DO NOT INCLUDE: If the book/article seems to be primarily focused on government/politics, economy, warfare, controversy, etc. do not add it to the spreadsheet.
 * DO INCLUDE: Books largely containing information regarding aspects of culture, social life, local customs, practices, etc.
 * Only pull results for the spreadsheet from the first two pages of results of your search.

5. If any entries seem to be of valuable Social Life and Customs content, add the respective content to the spreadsheet.

Part 4 - WorldCat
1. Go to WorldCat. 2. Note that the blue search box in the center of the screen has an option for searching different categories (Everything, Books, DVDs, CDs, Articles). Click on the Books option. 3. In the search box, type in the name of the respective country, followed by "social life and customs". 4. On the left-hand side of the results screen are two sections: Content, and Audience. Select "Non-Fiction" under the Content section. Then click "Non-Juvenlie" under the Audience section. 5. Examine both the titles of each result, as well as any information shown when you click on the title, to see if it has content related strictly to Social Life and Customs.


 * DO NOT INCLUDE: If the book/article seems to be focused primarily on government/politics, economy, warfare, controversy, general national history, etc. do not add it to the spreadsheet.
 * DO INCLUDE: Books largely containing information regarding aspects of culture, social life, local customs, practices, etc.
 * Only pull results for the spreadsheet from the first two pages of results of your search.

Example pages

 * See "Afghanistan" entries in the spreadsheet

If there is a problem or an uncertainty, feel free to email amberlarsen@familysearch.org or contact me through Yammer.