Department Liaison
Attribution
French: A Guide to Research was created in 2021 by Jennifer Jensen and the faculty of the Foreign Languages & Literature department at SUNY Oneonta in 2021.
- We gratefully acknowledge that elements of this guide were inspired by guides by Michelle Hendley, Heather Statler, and Sarah Rhodes.
Image adapted from Pxfuel
The Research Process
This library guide is designed to help you along each step of the research process as you prepare and write papers for your French classes. For general Research Paper Help, try this guide, too.
Each section of the guide connects with one step of the research process:
- Pick a topic with ideas from the news, library databases, and more.
- Find Research Sources by searching for articles, books, and other library resources to help you learn about your topic.
- When you are ready to get writing, the Write & Cite page has helpful links to citation and writing/revising resources.
Plus there is more! Practice your listening and language skills using the links and ideas on the Language Learning Resources and Streaming Videos pages of this guide.
Pick a topic
Pick a Topic
Looking for ideas? Here are a few ways to generate ideas for a research paper topic:
- Consider adapting a topic you are studying for another class -- get the francophone perspective on it, and use your research twice
- Browse chapter titles in your textbook or unit titles in your class syllabus
- Scan newspaper headlines on BBC Afrique or search topics in Ethnic NewsWatch (link below - make sure to choose "French" in the language filter) for contemporary issues
- Check out what's trending in social media sites you like
- Use the "Browse Issues" section in the library's Opposing Viewpoints database (link below)
- Watch a Film about French Culture or documentary about France and explore the film's ideas further with your research paper
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowFeatures full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press with titles dating from 1990. Contains about 2 million articles from more than 300 publications with both national and regional coverage.
- Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new windowContains a variety of media rich content, including over 20,000 pro/con viewpoints, approximately 19,000 reference articles, interactive maps, infographics, and more. Cross-searchable with Gale In Context: Global Issues. National Debate Topics category provides quick and easy access to content on frequently studied and discussed issues. Educator Resources include a research toolkit with tips on analyzing issues with opposing viewpoints, distinguishing fact from opinion, evaluating information sources, and recognizing deceptive arguments.