Academic Services Librarian
COMM 317: Intercultural Communication
Selecting a Cultural Text
Your cultural text will give you insight into the non-Western culture you are studying this semester. This text should be a current text created by the culture you are studying.
Examples of appropriate cultural texts:
- novel
- short story
- collection of poetry
- children's book
- fairy or folk tale
- movie or film
- television show
- legal document
- symbol
- ritual
Resources for Identifying a Text
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Literature Awards by Country (Wikipedia)Dynamic index of literature awards organized by country, language, region, and genre.
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List of Film Awards by Country (Wikipedia)Dynamic list of groups that recognize and award high-quality films, organized by country.
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Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowFormerly Lexis Nexis. Global news in full-text, company information, business and industry news, legal sources, and more.
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Modern Language Assoc. (MLA) International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowExample: SUBJECT = "Indian literature" AND SUBJECT = poetry. Set publication date for the 10 year range (2014-2024).
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WorldCat This link opens in a new windowUse to identify literature in book form that is actually available in English. Use the Advanced Search: PUBLISHER LOCATION: your country; GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE: your country; YEAR: 2014-2024; LANGUAGE: English; TYPE: books; CONTENT: either fiction or nonfiction
Resources for Locating a Text
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CardinalSearchSearch for books, film, audio, and more. Materials not owned by Oesterle Library can be borrowed at no cost using I-Share or Interlibrary Loan.
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GoogleFilms, art, and some other texts may be freely available on the internet.
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Kanopy Base This link opens in a new windowDeveloped based on librarian and educator feedback, the Kanopy BASE package includes a wide array of titles covering multiple courses of study, hand selected by Kanopy staff librarians. Films and documentaries in the Kanopy BASE collection range from core curricular subjects like Race and Class Studies, Sociology and Education, to subjects that cater to the whole student like Mental Health, Psychology and Health and Fitness.
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WorldCat This link opens in a new windowBooks and Songs. If your title is not in I-Share, you'll need to request it using the interlibrary loan form.
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Saskia Art Images Collection This link opens in a new windowThe collection contains 30,000 digital images of paintings, sculpture and architecture, including images from many important collections: the Prado, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Uffizi, and the Louvre as well as archaeological sites in Greece, Italy, Turkey and Egypt. The images can be displayed and downloaded in high-resolution format.
Resources for Justifying a Text
You can simply search the title of your text and scan for terms indicating popularity, or you can add search terms that connote popularity: best seller, prize winner, sellout, box office success, etc.
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CardinalSearch Newspaper SearchSearch for reviews and analyses in national and international newspapers.
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CardinalSearchSearch for reviews and analyses from scholarly sources.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new windowFind reviews and analyses in international scholarly journals.
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GoogleGoogle the title of your text. Scan for articles indicating popularity, or you can add search terms indicating popularity. Evaluate results carefully for legitimate evidence of popularity.
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Online NewspapersThis is your last resort, as many of the newspapers only provide the current issue. A few may give you free access to their archives, but you will have to hunt for them.
