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Literary Research in Harvard Libraries

Foreign language literatures.

  • Get Organized
  • Find Background
  • Where to Search
  • Search Vocabulary
  • Obscure/Recent Topics
  • Literary Journalism Search (under construction!)
  • Find Primary or Archival Material
  • Literary Theory
  • Distant Reading, Close Reading

Start with the MLA International Bibliography

  • The MLA International Bibliography is both international and multilingual, making it a great general tool for research in literary scholarship. You can use the drop-down list to specify a Subject Literature by nation or region (Scottish, North African, etc.).
  • Since the MLA is based in the U.S., though, there's a natural bias toward anglophone literature and toward works by American scholars. To find databases and bibliographies specific to your subject literature, please ask me (Odile) for recommendations. You're also welcome to explore Harvard's Databases list .

Think in Terms of Language Families and Geographical Region

Use multiple kinds of search terms, nouns and adjectives:.

  • Pro tip: also add adjectival forms for languages: Lusophone, Sinophone
  • East Asian, Pacific, Iberian, Latin America

Dialects and cultures

  • Hwanghae, Latino, Chicano

Language families

  • Romance, Slavic, Nilo-Saharan.
Pro tip : learn the MARC codes for your languages of interest , for catalog searching (e.g. in HOLLIS Advanced Search )

Find the Language Filter

  • Language : most search interfaces allow you to filter by language, and/or have a "language" option on the Advanced Search page
  • Place of publication : it is also often possible to filter or search by place of publication

For Non-Roman Scripts, Search Multiple Variations

Cataloging practices and system capabilities have changed significantly over time - you will need to try multiple search methods. Expect some hiccups in your searching no matter what you do.

  • Get expert advice: if you're doing extensive searching in a vernacular script, a cataloging expert can alert you to tiny variations that make a big difference in your results.
  • Search in the original script : many systems can now accept non-Latin character sets, and current best practice is for items to be cataloged by their original titles, in the original script. HOLLIS does accept non-Latin scripts.
  • ALA-LC Romanization Tables  - these tables define current best practice in the U.S. Note that there are many different romanization schemes in use around the world.
  • Tips for romanizing Arabic, Persian, and Hebrew (Harvard guide for Middle East and Islamic Studies Library Resources)
  • Tips for romanizing Cyrillic script (Slavic and Eurasian Studies at Harvard: Library and Archival Resources Slavic Studies Research Guide)
  • Try your search with and without diacritics: every search system is different. Some ignore diacritical marks, some require them. Remember that the same accented letters can be represented with different unicode blocks. HOLLIS generally ignores diacritics.

Contact an Expert

  • There is likely a Harvard librarian who specializes in the language families and geographical regions of interest to you. (Write to Ask a Librarian to find out who!) Our library experts are available via email or by in-person consultations. They can recommend top databases and help you navigate Harvard's collections. Many also maintain online research guides like the one you're reading right now. Please get in touch!

Explore Harvard's Collections

There is non-Anglophone material throughout Harvard's library collections, but several libraries specialize in a particular cultural tradition or geographic area. Many of the collections below rank among the world's best.

In Cambridge:

  • Harvard-Yenching Library - East Asian
  • Slavic Collections (Widener)
  • Fung Library - 20th-century social-science collections on Eurasia, Japan, and China
  • Middle Eastern Collection (Widener)
  • Judaica Collection (Widener)

Beyond Massachusetts:

  • Center for Hellenic Studies - Greek and Byzantine
  • Biblioteca Berenson - Medieval Italian

Explore Beyond Harvard's Collections

Pro Tip : use InterLibrary Loan to request material from outside of Harvard's Collections

Union Catalogs

  • WorldCat - a global union catalog that aggregates library catalogs from across the country and the world
  • Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog - a union catalog for European libraries that includes many records not found in WorldCat

National Libraries

  • National library catalogs are usually open to search, no log-in required
  • If you don't find a national library, try to find what other institutions might have the biggest libraries in the country, such as a prominent university, museum, cultural heritage center, or branch of government
  • << Previous: Literary Theory
  • Next: Distant Reading, Close Reading >>

Except where otherwise noted, this work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which allows anyone to share and adapt our material as long as proper attribution is given. For details and exceptions, see the Harvard Library Copyright Policy ©2021 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College.

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Subject guide

International Studies: how to write your thesis

This Subject Guide is designed to support students of International Studies with writing their BA thesis and research papers. This guide focuses on the research process, and suggests effective ways to: 1. find a topic and formulate a good research question; 2. search, find and evaluate literature; 3. search, find and organize primary sources; and 4. organize the research and writing process.

A. Getting Started & Staying Organized

Writing a thesis, or a larger research paper, can often be a challenge. It requires not only research skills, but also organizational skills to break down the process in smaller steps and make a realistic planning.

Sage Research Methods is a tool that helps you develop your research from the first to the last step .

B. Finding a good Topic

Leiden University’s library offers a number of tools to help you find a good research topic: Start your thesis .

Portland State University’s library, too, offers a good tool to help you get started: the DIY Library , and Ohio State University offers a handbook .

Three short videos that can help you get started are: Picking a topic IS research (by NC State); Choosing a Research Paper Topic (by University of Minnesota Libraries); How to Develop a Good Research Topic (by Kansas State Libraries).

C. Formulating a Research Question

The instruction page ‘ How to write a research question ’ of George Mason University’s Writing Center can form a good starting point, as well as this handbook .

You can also watch these short videos to help you get started: Developing a Research Question (by Steely Library); and Research Questions tutorial (by George Washington University Library).

D. Finding & Evaluating literature

Leiden University’s library offers help with finding and evaluating literature for your thesis or research paper.

You can find tutorials on searching for literature ; as well as tutorials on evaluating sources , or use this handbook .  

You can also ask for help by asking questions directly to library staff; or by a meeting with a subject librarian .

Two helpful short videos on finding literature include: One perfect source? (by NC State); and Tips & Tricks: Phrase Searching (by NC State).

E. Finding Primary Sources

The library provides access to a large number of digital resources, databases and archives . The Subject Guide for International Studies provides an overview of the various resources. 

Four examples of digital primary sources are  digital & digitised newspapers ; the Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History ; the Economist Intelligence Unit , which provides economic profiles and country reports; and the The Digital National Security Archive , which contains declassified CIA and US government documents.

You can gain an overview of the databases and e-resources offered through the library via this link .

F. Planning your Research Project

Students often struggle with making a realistic time-plan and then sticking with it. The following tools can help:

The Open University’s interactive website Time Management Skills portal helps you to develop your time management skills. See the following links for topics such as: - setting goals , - how to prepare a schedule and -tips for time management .

G. Help & Support

For questions about finding the right literature, you can approach the library, by asking questions directly to library staff; or by requesting a one-on-one meeting with a subject librarian .

For help with writing your thesis or research paper, you can also contact the International Studies Writing Lab .

For help with developing your Study skills & managing your studies (for example help with managing your time or coping with study stress), you can approach the Student Support Services for various workshops and courses .

If you are coping with more serious study-related or mental issues, you contact the study advisers or the university’s student psychologist , or visit the university’s website on well being .

Find a topic, formulate a research question, make a realistic time-plan

As a student you will have to do research assignments, write papers and hand in your final thesis before graduation. In order to succeed in this, you need to choose a good topic, formulate a researchable question, and make a realistic planning.

An effective tool for designing your research process in an effective way, is the SAGE Research Methods website . This website is user-friendly and helps you to break down your research process into smaller blocks. It also provides help with planning your research project.

Tips on how to choose a topic

  • Get inspired: Take inspiration from your required readings for a course you like, browse the books in the Wijnhaven Library reading room , explore topics in peer-reviewed international studies journals , or have a look at other theses by former students . Ask yourself: which question has not yet been answered? What information seems to be missing? What can you add to the discussion?
  • Brainstorm: Write down possible topic that comes to mind. These tutorials can help you with your brainstorm.
  • P ick something you like : If you have little influence over your thesis topic, try and steer your assigned topic in the direction you would like to take it to. This can be a specific discipline (sociology, anthropology, politics, linguistics) era (historical approach) or method (surveys, data sets, newspapers, personal stories etc).
  • Make sure you can make it into an academic treatise: A good number of students choose a thesis topic that aligns with their private interests. However, it can be a challenge to turn such topics into an academic treatise, because you may not have enough (1) relevant (2) academic and (3) accessible sources about the topic to base your argument on. Make sure that you choose a topic that you are passionate about, but that also has received scholarly interest, on which there is literature available, as well as other sources. If you start searching for sources in an early stage you can quickly determine whether your topic is in fact viable as a thesis topic or not.
  • Mind the size of your topic: it is important to narrow down your topic to a manageable size. Too few sources means you may want to expand your topic a bit. On the other hand, having too many sources on your topic means you need to narrow your topic down further. This is one of the reasons why starting to search for sources early is an important step in pinpointing a research topic that is just the right size for you.
  • Use the Sage Project Planner or other tutorials for defining a topic

Tips on how to formulate a good question

  • Avoid questions that can be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’
  • Have a voice: Ideally you already have a hypothesis, idea or point of view through which you can enter this topic. Often times you will adjust your view on the topic the more you learn about it.
  • Formulate a ‘problem’ that you need to answer: Think about the big questions, such as ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘when’, and ‘who’. This will give you an open-ended question through which you can explore your topic.
  • Avoid ‘Compare A to B and see what happens’ scenarios: There needs to be a formulation of a ‘problem’ and a point of view.
  • Use these tutorials or the Sage project planner to develop a researchable question

Tips on how to meet your deadline

  • Start with a general overview of the amount of time you have: When is your deadline? When can (and when should) you get started? How many hours can you realistically spend per week on this project?
  • Write down the steps you need to take from start to end: Go through this research guide to get an idea of how much time you need for your research. Don’t forget about things that might not be included here, such as spell checks, format checks, printing and binding etc.
  • You can use the Sage project planner to make a planning .
  • Be realistic: A realistic planning will help you to set goals and avoid stress by impeding deadlines. Underestimating the amount of work needed to write a well-researched, well-written paper is the number one reason students experience a lot of overwhelm from the research process. Therefore, be realistic about the amount of work you can put in in a day.
  • Write down your daily top 3: Write down three achievable things you want to have finished by the time you are done for the day and start with the most important thing.
  • Don’t forget to take a break: It is important to put away what you wrote for a bit so you can revisit it later. Oftentimes, when you go back to your text at a later point, you see little inconsistencies that you overlooked earlier; or you have new insights to add to your argument.
  • Time Management Skills: Planning your research is about much more than just prioritizing and setting goals. It is also about how you deal with distractions, procrastination, and what to do if you fall behind. Time management skills are essential skills not only for now, but also for when you find employment. Read more about Time Management Skills : - setting goals , - how to prepare a schedule and -tips for time management .

Recommended Books

  • Yvonne N. Bui - How to Write a Master’s Thesis
  • Umberto Eco - Hoe schrijf ik een scriptie
  • Umberto Eco - How to write a thesis (e-book)
  • Nel Verhoeven – Doing Research: the hows and whys of applied research
  • Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research

A. Finding literature is not like a trip to the supermarket

Some students approach the act of gathering information for their research as if they were taking a trip to the supermarket; they expect to be able to find exactly what they need within a certain set amount of time. Unlike a supermarket trip, however, searching for scholarly information is difficult, and you do not always get the results you want. This is mostly due to the fact that it is easy to (1) overestimate the quality and availability of the sources you need, and (2) underestimate the amount of time and skill needed to find these sources amidst the millions of sources out there.

In other words, some students expect to find ‘perfect sources’ for their thesis topic – meaning; academic sources that ‘tick all the right boxes’ of their thesis topic – fully downloadable, and found with little effort with just a few keywords and clicks. In reality, however, the ‘perfect source’ likely does not exist, many sources you need will not be available digitally, it will take quite some time and effort to find these sources, and you will have to pick up some new search skills along the way. This often causes students to experience the ‘search’ and ‘access’ phase as the most frustrating, unsatisfactory experience in the whole research experience.

Frustration, coupled with a lack of time, makes it tempting for students to turn to less trustworthy or relevant sources because they are more familiar (Google), or more easily available (full-text search only). This, however, leads to an unbalanced and incomplete list of sources. It is therefore important to think about how you search; are your expectations realistic? What are your pitfalls when pressed for time or when something does not work out immediately? How can you avoid them?

The good news is that you don’t need to find a ‘perfect source’, and this brief video shows you why : ‘Good research isn’t about finding the perfect article that makes all the connections for you, it’s about finding information that helps you form your ideas, and tying it together yourself to form a cohesive argument.’

If the perfect source already existed, there would not be a reason for you to write your thesis or paper. As a researcher, your assignment is to get to know the literature on a topic, identify what is missing, and add to the existing knowledge with our own writing. Sage Research Methods helps you to approach your research project in exactly this way.

Second, there are many ways the  library can help you get access to difficult-to-obtain sources and teach you how to search. Third, if you make a project plan early and manage your time, you should have enough time to search for the sources you need, thus avoiding a lot of stress and frustration.

B. First Step: Background Search

The best way to start your search is getting yourself more acquainted with the topic; you know some things about it, but there is a lot that you do not (yet) know. Background search can help you to identify important facts (dates, events, people, terminology) refine your topic (what aspect about this topic is it that truly interests you?), and give you additional information and tips on where to search (dictionaries, encyclopedias, databases). For your background search you can use Google, Wikipedia, your textbooks, bibliographies and encyclopedias .

At this stage of your research, important tools to start with are Google Scholar , which allows you to search and browse journal articles as well as the bibliographies that you can find in this Subject Guide for International Studies . The bibliographies are curated by a specialized staff and are more complete and systematic.

When doing background research you can start with a couple of keywords. You can use keywords from titles or abstracts. Specific keywords can narrow or broaden the amount of information you will find. Try out different (combinations of) keywords/synonyms to see what kind of information you get and which terms are useful. Learn more in these tutorials about keywords.

You can also use the so-called snowball-method to find literature on your topic: simply browse the bibliography at the end of a book or article that you found convincing to see if it contains other titles related to your topic.

C. Searching in the Library Catalogue

Try out different search terms when you start searching in the catalogue. The catalogue automatically searches for all of the entered search terms in one document unless you use OR. You can use NOT if you want specific words to be excluded. If you don’t know how to spell a word or it can be written in different ways, you can use the symbol # or ? (wom#n finds woman and women). When you have found a relevant item, you can also use the references or citations as new sources. It is not recommended to limit yourself to things only available in Leiden University by selecting ‘Leiden Collections’ instead of ‘All content’ in the search screen. See our catalogue tutorial .

D. Find Literature Elsewhere

Though Leiden University provides access to an extensive collection of literature related to International Studies, many more can be found elsewhere.

Recommended Library Catalogues

  • Worldcat : is the biggest world-wide search engine for library holdings. You can use it to search information about books, but also to locate the nearest library (inside or outside the library) that holds a copy. If any book or journal you found is unavailable in Leiden, you can either visit the holding library (which is often free for Dutch University Students) or request the item through (International) Inter Library Loan .

Recommended Online Search Engines

  • Google Scholar is Google’s search engine for scientific articles and academic books. It is recommended not to limit your search activities to Google, but it does offer a good starting point.

Recommended Bibliographies

  • A great number of specialized, academically curated bibliographies on many topics and fields can be found through the Subject Guide for International Studies .

A. Digital and Paper Sources

Tips for accessing digital sources.

  • If you have found a digital source in the catalogue that you wish to access from home you need to login via the library catalogue, using your ULCN credentials, and not via a publisher portal. You can also use the Get Access browser extension .
  • If you come across a source in the catalogue that is listed as “Online Access” or “Open Access” but you cannot get access, click the ‘report a problem’ option within the record. 

Tips for accessing Paper sources

  • You need a valid LU card for access in most buildings.
  • Leiden University Libraries consists of several library locations. Depending on your research topic, you may need to access physical books from these different locations.

B. Not available in Leiden?

There are a number of ways in which you can get access to materials that are not available at Leiden University Libraries.

How to get access to materials not available in Leiden

  • Look up the book or journal in Worldcat . If you enter your zip code, you can find the library nearest to you that has a copy, such as the Royal Library in the Hague or other University Libraries.
  • The Royal Library in the Hague offers a 50% discount for students for a one-year membership. Leiden University Students can apply for a library card free of charge at all Dutch Universities.
  • Request the item through Inter Library Loan (ILL ) or through  International ILL .
  • Ask Leiden University to acquire the item : You can file a request for the library to purchase a book, access to a journal or database. All requests are considered by the relevant subject librarian, and a decision is made depending on collection policy, available budget and price of the item. Please keep in mind that, in case an item is purchased, it can take several weeks for the item to be shipped and processed.
  • Contact your subject librarian . If the above measures did not help, reach out to your subject librarian. It is possible that they know different means and methods within their field of expertise to obtain access to the materials you need.

A. Why do I need to evaluate scholarly publications – wasn´t that evaluated already?

Students are required to be critical of all their sources, including the ones you find in the library catalogue, academic databases, and those quoted in other scholarly publications. In today’s world, publishing and sharing information has become accessible to all, which also has made it easier to publish misinformation.

Academic information, at least, has put up a number of hurdles to tackle misinformation and disinformation from spreading, such as peer review . However, aside from the fact that these measures are far from failsafe , journals, books and authors can certainly be biased or prejudiced while working within the academic framework. It is your job as a scholar to be critical of all sources you use – academic or not – and train yourself in recognizing credible sources and using them in a critical fashion.

B. Popular & Scholarly

At the beginning of your student career at Leiden University, you may sometimes miss the difference between scholarly information and popular sources, and why this difference is important.

Media like YouTube videos, blog posts, or magazine articles can be tempting to use in a paper, because they (1) mainly focus on being entertaining instead of being informative, (2) use clear and easy to understand language, and (3) due to algorithms, are likely to confirm your pre-existing worldview and ideas. The goal of a research project, however, is to approach a certain problem in an open way, and embark on a research as an open-ended process. For such a project, usage of scholarly publications is crucial.

One of the main differences between popular sources and scholarly sources is the scientific rigor that lies at the basis of an analysis and argument, and transparent presentation of the used methods and sources. These are part of the scholarly format of peer-reviewed and annotated texts. Illustrative of the importance of this format is the fact that an op-ed written by a professor is categorized as a popular source, while an article in a scientific journal by the same professor is categorized as a scholarly text.

It is especially tricky when opinions of the author are presented as ‘facts’ that seem correct due to being based on cherry-picked data. If you are not yet confident in discerning between scholarly and popular sources, we recommend you follow a couple of tutorials .

C. Evaluating information

It is important you ask yourself a number of questions while reading a source, such as: Who wrote the information, why did they publish it, is there an agenda and when/where was it published? All of this comes before you can think about the text itself. This follows a technique used by professional factcheckers, called lateral reading , where you first consider the container of the text, before you look at the text itself. 

The above is useful for information found both in print and online. For information found solely online there is an additional method, called the SIFT method . SIFT stands for Stop, Investigate the Source, Find trusted coverage, Trace claims, quotes, and media back to the original context. In many cases it will take about 30 seconds to quickly check whether for example a news report is true once you have trained yourself in the four moves of SIFT.

Take a look at these tutorials about evaluating information.

A. Reading and searching: two sides of the same coin

The most conventional method of discovering relevant authors and publications for your research is discovering them citations and references of other publications. We therefore recommend to make enough time to read your sources, and then do follow-up searches. When reading ask yourself: which authors are talking about my topic, what do they say, what books/articles did they write, which sources do they cite and how was the research conducted?

You may think that reading all the sources you find in order to do follow up search will take too long. However, in this part of the research process, you are only reading your sources to (1) confirm that they match your information need, (2) double-check that they are academic (3) not too old for your topic of choice, and (4) find references to other scholars and publication about your topic.

Tips on strategic reading

  • Scan : Quickly go through a text by reading just the titles of chapters, abstracts of papers, paragraph titles, or the first sentence of a new paragraph, and the conclusion. This will help you determine whether or not you want to read the source more in detail, and which parts you can easily skip.
  • Reading and Note making: You will have to read, process and remember information from a lot of different sources. To stay organized, it is important to make efficient notes while reading. Look here for a top five of critical reading techniques and a brief course on critical reading .
  • Don’t forget to write down where your information comes from ! If you are not sure where the information comes from when you start writing, you are at risk of plagiarism. Tip: The quickest way to make a short note when you are reading is taking the last name of the author  + page. For example: Hall, p. 31. If you use multiple sources by the same author, add the publication year. (Hall, 2005, p. 31)
  • For more information see the Critical Reading Techniques .

Rinse and Repeat

At this stage, you have found a good number of sources, read them, took notes, and likely found other publications authors and data that you have not found before. This marks the second round of searching for sources – look up that interesting looking book you found in a citation, find out what else the author of that book wrote, see if you can get it through Leiden University or other means, and... read! By repeating this cycle of read-search-access-read two or three times, you are very likely to find (1) the majority of relevant publications on your topic of choice, (2) the majority of authors writing about your topic of choice, and (3) a good overview of primary sources relating to your topic of choice. Only once you have followed this thorough and deliberate way of locating your sources are you ready to move forward.

B. Refine your topic

This is a good point in your research to revisit your topic and your research question. While reading you may have found that there is much more information available about your topic than you initially thought – or not enough. You may have found that your research question has already been dealt with in length by other scholars, while at the same time, another question that is even more interesting may have come to mind. Perhaps you would like to take your research into a whole different direction after doing some reading and follow up research? When you are refining your topic, allow yourself to be flexible. It is common to modify your topic during the research process.

Take some time to visit the checklist for your topic and research question again, and see if you need to make any chances. If you have already handed in your topic and research question to your supervisor, you should always inform them of any major changes you wish to make. Have a look at this overview of tips for refining your research topic .

In some cases, using primary sources for your research is optional, in other cases it is an obligatory part of your research. Students can use a variety of primary sources for their projects, depending on their topics. Different sources may require different research methodologies.

Central to all primary research projects is, however, that you systematically analyze a well-delineated corpus of sources. The delineation refers both to the source and the time-frame. For example, instead of analyzing how ‘the media’ reported on a topic, choose a specific media outlet (for example one newspaper) or set of media outlets (a well-delineated set of newspaper titles), and research the news reports over a specific time-frame (for example: how did the New York Times report on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program between 2010 and 2020). A similar systematic can be used when analyzing statistical data, CIA reports, the correspondence between Marx and Engels, etc.

Sage Research Methods provides a good overview of the most important primary source research methods , as well as examples and cases.

The library provides access to a large number of digital resources, databases and archives . The Subject Guide for International Studies provides an overview of the various resources.

A. Managing your research project

Once you have found, evaluated, and read all of your literature (for now) it is time to think about what you have read and to organize your findings. This can be a challenging phase in the research project. If you feel overwhelmed by the work you have to do, various actions may help: 1.) break down the project into smaller steps; 2.) make a time plan that enables you to find a good balance between reading, researching, writing, and free time; 3.) break down your thesis or paper into smaller blocks that you can separately work on.

Tools that can help you to break down your project into smaller parts and to manage time-planning are: the Sage project planner ; and the Open University’s Time Management Skills portal. See the following links for topics such as: setting goals , how to prepare a schedule> tips for time management .

For help with developing your study skills & managing your studies (for example help with managing your time or coping with study stress), you can approach the Student Support Services for various workshops and courses .

B. Synthesizing; Interrogating the literature

Your thesis or research paper needs to clearly relate to the existing literature on a topic: you need to show who you (dis)agree with and what you are adding to the existing body of knowledge. This means that you need to identify at least the following three points (1) common themes between sources, (2) points on which the sources/authors (direct or indirect) disagree and (3) gaps in the literature (what is missing?).

This does not mean that you should just give a number of summaries of articles. Instead, it is important to compare and contrast, broaden the argument and give your own thoughts and conclusions. For a more detailed explanation on synthesizing and integrating information, use one of the following sources:

  • “Help…I’ve been asked to synthesize!”
  • Simply Psychology – how to synthesize written information from multiple sources.

C. Footnotes, Citations and Citation Managers

For your thesis or research paper you are potentially going to refer to a large body of sources. Typing up all the footnotes by hand, and maintaining one consistent reference style is time-consuming. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use an electronic citation manager. Learning how to work with a reference manager is a new skill, but it will save you time in the long run – the more papers you write, the more time you save.

Mendeley, EndNote and Zotero are three of the main refence managers. You can learn more about these programmes on our page about reference managers.

  • There are brief introductory videos on Mendeley , Endnote , and Zotero .

There are various citation methods. International Studies theses and papers are to use CMS as their citation style. The most important thing about using a citation style is consistency . Do not mix up the different styles and rules! If you are uncertain which style you should use for your paper or thesis, always consult with your supervisor. See these tutorials and books below that can help you get started with making your own citations below. 

Recommended Books:

  • Cite Right : a quick guide to citation styles.
  • Doing honest work in college: how to prepare citations, avoid plagiarism and achieve real academic success : deals with today’s issues, like citing podcasts or social media posts, using mobile devices during tests, and the pro-s and cos of reference managers.
  • Cite them right : the essential referencing guide.

D. Writing the Report

For the actual writing of your thesis or research paper, structure is important in a double sense of the word. First of all, it is important to structure your thesis into smaller parts that you can write in subsequent order. Secondly, it is important to structure your working day and working week in such a way that you can find a productive balance between working on your thesis and doing other things.

Next to the Sage project planner , the website of the Australian National University can help you to design an effective structure for your thesis.

For structuring your working day and working week, you can take cue from the Open University’s Time Management Skills portal. See the following links for topics such as: setting goals , how to prepare a schedule and tips for time management .

Another helpful website is the Thesis Whisperer , which among other offers advice on How to become a literature searching Ninja , and on How to write 1000 words a day (and not go bat shit crazy) .

Library For questions about finding the right literature, you can approach the library, by asking questions directly to library staff; or by requesting a one-on-one meeting with a subject librarian . If you would like to suggest purchase requests, contact the subject librarian for International Studies, Nathaniël Linssen .

Writing Lab For help with writing your thesis or research paper, you can also contact the International Studies Writing Lab .

Workshops on Managing Time and Coping with Study Stress For help with developing your Study skills & managing your studies (for example help with managing your time or coping with study stress), you can approach the Student Support Services for various workshops and courses.

Study-related and Mental Support If you are coping with more serious study-related or mental issues, you contact the study advisers or the university’s student psychologist , or visit the university’s website . 

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12.6: Literary Thesis Statements

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  • Heather Ringo & Athena Kashyap
  • City College of San Francisco via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

The Literary Thesis Statement

Literary essays are argumentative or persuasive essays. Their purpose is primarily analysis, but analysis for the purposes of showing readers your interpretation of a literary text. So the thesis statement is a one to two sentence summary of your essay's main argument, or interpretation.

Just like in other argumentative essays, the thesis statement should be a kind of opinion based on observable fact about the literary work.

Thesis Statements Should Be

  • This thesis takes a position. There are clearly those who could argue against this idea.
  • Look at the text in bold. See the strong emphasis on how form (literary devices like symbolism and character) acts as a foundation for the interpretation (perceived danger of female sexuality).
  • Through this specific yet concise sentence, readers can anticipate the text to be examined ( Huckleberry Finn) , the author (Mark Twain), the literary device that will be focused upon (river and shore scenes) and what these scenes will show (true expression of American ideals can be found in nature).

Thesis Statements Should NOT Be

  • While we know what text and author will be the focus of the essay, we know nothing about what aspect of the essay the author will be focusing upon, nor is there an argument here.
  • This may be well and true, but this thesis does not appear to be about a work of literature. This could be turned into a thesis statement if the writer is able to show how this is the theme of a literary work (like "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid) and root that interpretation in observable data from the story in the form of literary devices.
  • Yes, this is true. But it is not debatable. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who could argue with this statement. Yawn, boring.
  • This may very well be true. But the purpose of a literary critic is not to judge the quality of a literary work, but to make analyses and interpretations of the work based on observable structural aspects of that work.
  • Again, this might be true, and might make an interesting essay topic, but unless it is rooted in textual analysis, it is not within the scope of a literary analysis essay. Be careful not to conflate author and speaker! Author, speaker, and narrator are all different entities! See: intentional fallacy.

Thesis Statement Formula

One way I find helpful to explain literary thesis statements is through a "formula":

Thesis statement = Observation + Analysis + Significance

  • Observation: usually regarding the form or structure of the literature. This can be a pattern, like recurring literary devices. For example, "I noticed the poems of Rumi, Hafiz, and Kabir all use symbols such as the lover's longing and Tavern of Ruin "
  • Analysis: You could also call this an opinion. This explains what you think your observations show or mean. "I think these recurring symbols all represent the human soul's desire." This is where your debatable argument appears.
  • Significance: this explains what the significance or relevance of the interpretation might be. Human soul's desire to do what? Why should readers care that they represent the human soul's desire? "I think these recurring symbols all show the human soul's desire to connect with God. " This is where your argument gets more specific.

Thesis statement: The works of ecstatic love poets Rumi, Hafiz, and Kabir use symbols such as a lover’s longing and the Tavern of Ruin to illustrate the human soul’s desire to connect with God .

Thesis Examples

SAMPLE THESIS STATEMENTS

These sample thesis statements are provided as guides, not as required forms or prescriptions.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Literary Device Thesis Statement

The thesis may focus on an analysis of one of the elements of fiction, drama, poetry or nonfiction as expressed in the work: character, plot, structure, idea, theme, symbol, style, imagery, tone, etc.

In “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty creates a fictional character in Phoenix Jackson whose determination, faith, and cunning illustrate the indomitable human spirit.

Note that the work, author, and character to be analyzed are identified in this thesis statement. The thesis relies on a strong verb (creates). It also identifies the element of fiction that the writer will explore (character) and the characteristics the writer will analyze and discuss (determination, faith, cunning).

The character of the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet serves as a foil to young Juliet, delights us with her warmth and earthy wit, and helps realize the tragic catastrophe.

The Genre / Theory Thesis Statement

The thesis may focus on illustrating how a work reflects the particular genre’s forms, the characteristics of a philosophy of literature, or the ideas of a particular school of thought.

“The Third and Final Continent” exhibits characteristics recurrent in writings by immigrants: tradition, adaptation, and identity.

Note how the thesis statement classifies the form of the work (writings by immigrants) and identifies the characteristics of that form of writing (tradition, adaptation, and identity) that the essay will discuss.

Samuel Beckett’s Endgame reflects characteristics of Theatre of the Absurd in its minimalist stage setting, its seemingly meaningless dialogue, and its apocalyptic or nihilist vision.

A close look at many details in “The Story of an Hour” reveals how language, institutions, and expected demeanor suppress the natural desires and aspirations of women.

Generative Questions

One way to come up with a riveting thesis statement is to start with a generative question. The question should be open-ended and, hopefully, prompt some kind of debate.

  • What is the effect of [choose a literary device that features prominently in the chosen text] in this work of literature?
  • How does this work of literature conform or resist its genre, and to what effect?
  • How does this work of literature portray the environment, and to what effect?
  • How does this work of literature portray race, and to what effect?
  • How does this work of literature portray gender, and to what effect?
  • What historical context is this work of literature engaging with, and how might it function as a commentary on this context?

These are just a few common of the common kinds of questions literary scholars engage with. As you write, you will want to refine your question to be even more specific. Eventually, you can turn your generative question into a statement. This then becomes your thesis statement. For example,

  • How do environment and race intersect in the character of Frankenstein's monster, and what can we deduce from this intersection?

Expert Examples

While nobody expects you to write professional-quality thesis statements in an undergraduate literature class, it can be helpful to examine some examples. As you view these examples, consider the structure of the thesis statement. You might also think about what questions the scholar wondered that led to this statement!

  • "Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as 'the other world,' the antithesis of Europe and therefore civilization, a place where man's vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality" (Achebe 3).
  • "...I argue that the approach to time and causality in Boethius' sixth-century Consolation of Philosophy can support abolitionist objectives to dismantle modern American policing and carceral systems" (Chaganti 144).
  • "I seek to expand our sense of the musico-poetic compositional practices available to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, focusing on the metapoetric dimensions of Much Ado About Nothing. In so doing, I work against the tendency to isolate writing as an independent or autonomous feature the work of early modern poets and dramatists who integrated bibliographic texts with other, complementary media" (Trudell 371).

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. "An Image of Africa" Research in African Literatures 9.1 , Indiana UP, 1978. 1-15.

Chaganti, Seeta. "Boethian Abolition" PMLA 137.1 Modern Language Association, January 2022. 144-154.

"Thesis Statements in Literary Analysis Papers" Author unknown. https://resources.finalsite.net/imag...handout__1.pdf

Trudell, Scott A. "Shakespeare's Notation: Writing Sound in Much Ado about Nothing " PMLA 135.2, Modern Language Association, March 2020. 370-377.

Contributors and Attributions

Thesis Examples. Authored by: University of Arlington Texas. License: CC BY-NC

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For information about submitting your thesis or dissertation, or its availability here, please see the Overview of Thesis & Dissertation Policies and Procedures or contact the Office of Graduate Studies .

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POETICS AS RHETORIC IN THE WORKS OF HORACE , Lauren W. Brown

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Erotic Ecology in Ovid's Heroides , Noah Holt

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Bodies in Shame: Writing Trauma and Affective Unsettlement in Post-Genocide Rwanda Fiction , Cole A. Carvour

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Narrating Refugee Lives: Political Asylum in 21st century France , Susmitha Udayan

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Carian Greeks and Greek Scythians: The Hybridity of Greek and Barbarian Identity in Herodotus’ Histories , Benjamin D. Leach

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The Narrator, the Mute, and the Familiar: Configurations of Children in War Films , Kiyomi Wilks

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Cerberus Amator: Underworld Imagery in the Elegies of Tibullus and Propertius , Makaila Daeschel

Mixing the Roman miles: Character Development in Terence's Eunuchus , Samantha Davis

Plato's Orpheus: The Philosophical Appropriation of Orphic Formulae , Dannu Hütwohl

Performance of gender social status: social identity through clothes , Fanny M. Hamon

Those that Trespass Against Us: Childhood, Violence, and Memory in The White Ribbon , Joseph Kuster

The Ethics and Politics of Love in Postwar France: The Case of Beauvoir, Camus, and Sartre , Christian Wood

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Mémoire et silence autour de la guerre d’Algérie , Romain Chadaigne

Das Schmunzeln im Spiegel (kolonialer) Erinnerung:parodierte nationale Selbstbilder in Christian Krachts Imperium und Daniel Kehlmanns Die Vermessung der Welt , Bettina Davis

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Embracing Evil: The Threat and Allure of the Female in Greek Poetry , Caley S. McGuill

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Ars Audax: The Myth of the Flight of Icarus and Its Reception Since Antiquity , Jessica Rose Wells

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Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

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Hans-Ulrich Treichel's Der Verlorene: Trans-Generational Trauma, Guilt And Shame , Anja Jennifer Riley

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

The Representation of the Darker Faustian Elements of the Walpurgisnacht and Mephistopheles in Heavy Metal and Rock Music , Edgar Dan Hornback

Theses/Dissertations from 1992 1992

Die Erscheinungsformen der Ostjüdischen Kultur in Berlin 1919-1925 , Glenn Scott Levine

Theses/Dissertations from 1977 1977

The Role of the Family in the Works of the Marquis De Sade , Gene Marshall

Photonuclear Activation at the Pantex Plant , Gilbert L. Rendon

Theses/Dissertations from 1974 1974

Myth and Reality in Hijo de Hombre, A Novel by Augusto Roa Bastos , David R. Gifford

Theses/Dissertations from 1973 1973

Pascal's Concept Of Christianity. , Audrey Vivien Bull

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Theses/Dissertations from 1972 1972

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Theses/Dissertations from 1971 1971

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"Realia" dans le Perceval de Chretien de Troyes , Claude Jean Fouillade

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Theses/Dissertations from 1969 1969

Le Monde De Madame De Girardin Vu A Travers Les Lettres Parisiennes. , Janina M. Cikotas

Theses/Dissertations from 1967 1967

Simone Weil's Search For Unity Through The Union Of Contradictories. , Barbara J. Brim

Theses/Dissertations from 1966 1966

Pierpont Morgan Manuscript 324: Le Roman De La Rose; A Study in Social Transition , Louise A. Miller

Theses/Dissertations from 1965 1965

The Doctor In Marcel Proust's A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu. , Michael L. Rowland

Theses/Dissertations from 1950 1950

Humor in George Duhamel's Chroniques des Pasquier , William Henry Adamson

A Critical Study of Alfred Jarry Based on an Analysis and Translation of Ubu-Roi , Clyde B. MacKenzie

Theses/Dissertations from 1937 1937

Bourget and Bazin: Two Leaders of the Catholic Renaissance , Sister M. Eulalia Aure

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babangida ibrahim

Mayleen Dorcas Castro

—Online processing is one of the many advantages of the use of internet technology. Enrollment procedures in many universities not only in the Philippines usually done in manual process even with the advent of internet and with many sophisticated technologies. The purpose of this study is to design and develop an Online Registration and Grade Evaluation System in advancing the Pre-Enrollment Procedure. The system can help improve student's registration, grade evaluation and record keeping system of Bulacan State University, one of the Universities in the Philippines. The system can provide online registration of students, viewing of grades through their personal account, creation of subjects and curriculum, managing of different user accounts for faculty members and students, online evaluation of grades using the subject prerequisite system and printing of evaluation certificates and grade checklist of the students. The developed system can help the different Colleges of the University in terms of their enrollment procedure which can minimize inaccuracies and errors. 

Aptisi Transactions On Technopreneurship (ATT)

Aptisi Transactions on Technopreneurship Journal

MTs Al-muhtadiin is the first private vocational school in the sub-district of Sukadiri, at the beginning of the opening of this school, it received quite a positive response with proven opening in 2017 around 62 students registered themselves as students at MTs Al-Muhtadiin. The new student registration system at MTs Al-Muhtadiin is already running effectively and efficiently. In analyzing the running system used the method of analysis and depiction of the system using UML (Unified Modeling Language) and in data collection used interview, observation and literature study methods. The results of the analysis of the system that runs in the admission of new students at MTs Al-Muhtadiin are still running manually with the help of Microsoft Excel in the process of making reports.

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Literature: Free E-journals, Literary Associations, & Other Sites

  • Reference Works
  • Literary Periods/Genres
  • Free E-journals, Literary Associations, & Other Sites

Table of Contents

Bibliographies, electronic text centers.

  • Free E-Journals

Literary Associations

  • Literary Meta-Sites

Scholarly Societies

  • Bibliography of Studies on the MLAIB International Bibliography Maintained by Faye Christenberry, English Studies Librarian at the University of Washington. Originally compiled by Scott Stebelman.
  • Studies of Interest to English & American Literature Librarians A quite comprehensive bibliography that "cumulates citations appearing in Biblio-Notes: Issued by the English and American Literature Section of the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association."

Free E-journals

These titles below are free and open to all visitors.

  • Arts & Letters Daily, current year only
  • Bryn Mawr Classical Review
  • DHQ (Digital Humanities Quarterly)
  • Early Modern Literary Studies
  • EBR: Electronic Book Review
  • Film-Philosophy Journal
  • Other Voices: The (e)journal of Cultural Criticism
  • Postmodern Culture
  • Romantic Circles Reviews
  • Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net
  • The Medieval Review (formerly the Bryn Mawr Medieval Review)
  • The New Compass: A Critical Review (2003-2004)
  • World Picture
  • Electronic Texts at the University of Virginia Contains information about the Electronic Text Center (1992-2007), an early repository of electronic texts.
  • Oxford Text Archive The archive "exists to serve the interests of the academic community by providing low-cost archival and dissemination facilities for electronic texts."
  • Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts "This is a collection of public domain and open access documents with a focus on American and English literature as well as Western philosophy. Its purpose is to help facilitate a person’s liberal arts education."
  • Modern Language Association

Literary Meta-Sites (Websites with Broad Coverage of Literary Resources)

  • ASLE online The Association for the Study of Literature and Environment website deals with literature that considers the relationship between human beings and the natural world. It covers the genres of literary nonfiction, nature poetry, and environmental fiction, including ecofeminism.
  • Voice of the Shuttle: Literature in English Probably provides the broadest coverage of literature related resources on the net. Maintained by Alan Liu (U C Santa Barbara). Includes its own search engine.
  • Literary Resources on the Net A huge collection of literature resources organized by period. Maintained by Jack Lynch (U. of Penn.). Includes its own search engine.
  • Anglistik Guide A subject guide to scholarly material in Anglo-American language and literature. Maintained at the State and University Library of Gñttingen. Resources are catalogued using a set of Dublin Core metadata.
  • Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia founded in 1947 at the University of Charlottesville in order to promote interest in books and manuscripts, maps, printing, the graphic arts and bibliography, and textual criticism. It publishes Studies in Bibliography. http://etext.virginia.edu/bsuva/sb/
  • Council of Literary Magazines and Presses Provides support for "creative voices of communities underrepresented in the mainstream culture."
  • SHARP(Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing) A web site that includes a great deal of material on printing and publishing history. It contains links to many organizations, exhibits, projects, conferences, teaching resources, journals, etc. dealing broadly with the history of the book.

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Sample Foreign Studies of Chapter 2 (Thesis Writing)

foreign literature in thesis

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  2. Local and Foreign Literature- Group 8

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  4. 🐈 Example of foreign literature. Related Local and Foreign Literature

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  2. (FULL LESSON) Paano gumawa ng RRL

  3. Lecture-91 Steps of Writing a Thesis

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  6. Most VERSATILE Literary Thesis, EVER!

COMMENTS

  1. Foreign Language Literatures

    Tips for doing research on literary topics. Start with the MLA International Bibliography. The MLA International Bibliography is both international and multilingual, making it a great general tool for research in literary scholarship. You can use the drop-down list to specify a Subject Literature by nation or region (Scottish, North African, etc.).

  2. Sample Foreign Literature of Chapter 2 (Thesis Writing)

    Chapter 2. RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES. This chapter presents the literature and studies taken from the various sources like books, unfinished thesis and the like. The presentation starts with the foreign literature, local literature, and then followed by foreign studies and lastly, the local studies. The synthesis of the works, data and ...

  3. International Studies: how to write your thesis

    This Subject Guide is designed to support students of International Studies with writing their BA thesis and research papers. This guide focuses on the research process, and suggests effective ways to: 1. find a topic and formulate a good research question; 2. search, find and evaluate literature; 3. search, find and organize primary sources ...

  4. How to Write a Literature Review

    Examples of literature reviews. Step 1 - Search for relevant literature. Step 2 - Evaluate and select sources. Step 3 - Identify themes, debates, and gaps. Step 4 - Outline your literature review's structure. Step 5 - Write your literature review.

  5. Teaching Foreign Literatures in College: Premises, Problems ...

    Premises, Problems, Proposals'. Helene Scher. Few critics or scholars today would seriously dispute the contention. the study of literature significantly differs from the study of language. aa tool of communication. Especially since the appearance of important works of literary theory like Rene Wellek and Austin Warren's Theory Literature (1949 ...

  6. CHAPTER 2 Review of Related Literature and Studies Foreign Literature

    CHAPTER 2 Review of Related Literature and Studies Foreign Literature Student Performance Galiher (2006) and Darling (2005), used GPA to measure student performance because the main focus in the student performance for the particular semester. Some other researchers used test results or previous year result since they are studying performance ...

  7. 12.6: Literary Thesis Statements

    The thesis may focus on illustrating how a work reflects the particular genre's forms, the characteristics of a philosophy of literature, or the ideas of a particular school of thought. Example 1: "The Third and Final Continent" exhibits characteristics recurrent in writings by immigrants: tradition, adaptation, and identity.

  8. Full article: Perspectives on translation and world literature

    In 1993, he lectured again on comparative literature at Shanghai and Beijing (Wang, Citation 2001, p. 38). This was a time of intense intellectual exchange between China and the West, a period that showed a great interest in foreign literature and culture, and also aimed to disseminate Chinese cultural artifacts abroad.

  9. Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

    FLL's graduate programs in Classical Studies, Comparative Literature/Cultural Studies, French, and German Studies train students in literary and cultural criticism as well as in language pedagogy, preparing them for careers as researchers and educators. Internationally recognized for their innovative scholarship and teaching, faculty members in our department are strongly interdisciplinary in ...

  10. [PDF] Translating Literature: Practice and Theory in a Comparative

    Designed for courses on literary translation, Translating Literature discusses the process and the product of literary translation, incorporating both practical advice for translators and theoretical discussion on the role translations play in the evolution and interpretation of literatures. Exercises and examples highlight problems in translation.

  11. International Theses

    ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. A comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world from 1861-present. Full text since 1997. Abstracts since 1980 for doctoral dissertations and 1988 for masters' theses. Citations since 1861.. Citations are indexed in Web of Science in the ProQuest ™ Dissertations & Theses Citation Index collection.

  12. Foreign Languages & Literatures Research Guide: Articles

    Contain information from articles, essays, book reviews, monographs, conference proceedings, technical reports, interviews and brief notes published in journals edited in 24 different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as from publications that focus on Pan-American issues. Spanish language articles.

  13. Chapter2 Local and Foreign Literature:

    Automated, Systematized, Enrolment Program (A.S.E.P.) is an electronic enrolment system program designed by the researchers for schools for schools: Raja Soliman Science and Technology High School and Antonio A. Maceda Integrated School (JHS). The data gathering in A.S.E.P. is automatic. The acquisition of needed information about the enrolment ...

  14. Analysis on the Significance of Foreign Literature ...

    in translation and improve the quality of translation in the. process of translation. By reading and research foreign lit-. erature translation works, we can realize the collision and. exchange of ...

  15. Foreign Literature

    Editorial correspondence should be addressed to Foreign Literature, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing100089, China. Tel.: 86-10-88816730; Email: [email protected]. Foreign Literature, founded in 1980, has the longest history and the biggest influence among professional academic publications in the foreign literature research in China.

  16. PDF English Literature As a Resource for Teaching English As a Foreign

    thesis, the understandings of literature are discussed according to the English teachers. Additionally, the purposes for using literature in English language teaching are explored. In the second part of the thesis, the theoretical framework for using English literature in the Finnish primary schools is introduced, and the role of the English

  17. PDF A Literature Review of Foreign Studies on the Impact of CALL on ...

    related works of literature, and then screened out the literatures that have little relationship with this research after ... In the field of foreign language teaching, vocabulary memory and mastery have always been one of the most concerned topics of teachers and scholars. Because "One indispensable factor in learning a second language is the

  18. Chapter II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

    The literature and studies cited in this chapter tackle the different concept, understanding, and ideas, generalization or conclusions and different development related to study of the enrollment from the past up to the present and which serves as the researchers guide in developing the project. Those that were also included in this chapter ...

  19. Literature: Free E-journals, Literary Associations, & Other Sites

    Free E-journals. These titles below are free and open to all visitors. Arts & Letters Daily, current year only. Bryn Mawr Classical Review. DHQ (Digital Humanities Quarterly) Early Modern Literary Studies. EBR: Electronic Book Review. Film-Philosophy Journal. Other Voices: The (e)journal of Cultural Criticism.

  20. Sample Foreign Studies of Chapter 2 (Thesis Writing)

    Foreign Studies. Lee (2011) explicated in his study that technology has played a role in many of the significant changes in American journalism, and that role generally has been twofold. First, there is an immediate impact, which takes place as news organizations use the new technology for improvements, such as gathering and reporting news more ...

  21. PDF Design and Application of Foreign Literature Information ...

    foreign literature is weak now[3]. In the traditional environment, foreign literature information resource is stored in each storage organization in scattered form[4-6]. The barriers of space and means results in the dual narrow channels of the development of foreign literature sources and the usage. Thus it reduces the

  22. Chapter 2 Local and Foreign Literature

    2.1 Foreign Literature. According to the coordinator of admission support of Kieran Greenaway,the system. known as the Edith Cowan University Web enrollment system (ECUWES) had replaced the ... 2.1 Local Literature. According to the thesis documents made by Ibay, Villegas, Madisa, Clemen. andabenes (2014) applying the automation of the ...

  23. Literature Review of Location-Based Mobile Games in Education

    In this literature review, we conduct an analysis of educational mobile location-based games. The review includes articles published from January of 2010 to October of 2020, and from 127 records ...