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LITTRANS / GERMAN 276 - Global Readers in a Digital Age (Spring 2025) : Home

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WELCOME!  This LibGuide has been created to help you understand how to conduct research for papers required in Literature in Translation Classes within World Literature.

On these pages, you will learn how to decide what speaks to you about your text, how to create meaningful search terms that follow your interests, and finally, how to find and get secondary literature pertaining to your topic.

This page is created first and foremost with the student researching within the class: Lit Trans / German 276 - Global Readers in a Digital Age, but the suggestions are not solely for those students.  If you are not taking a different course, you will find the information valid, but the examples may be slightly different than the ones given below.  

Combine Search Terms

First you need a Primary Search Term
What is most significant in your work? What speaks to you most?  Why do you like the work the most?
Foundation of a Culture, Epics, Folktales, Welfare, Society, Equality

Next you need a Second Search Term

What is special about the primary search term in the work?
Is it just Folktakes? Epics? Welfare? Society? Equality?
How does it compare to other places, times?
19th century; 1600s; Norway; Latin America; India; Persia; etc.
 
This will be the way you find more specific articles.
 
Start vague and then get more specific
Start off with “Folktales AND Persia,” THEN “Folktales AND 1001 Nights” NOT “Folktales AND 1001 Nights AND Establishment of Culture” – That may come later, but probably not.
 
You may want to change possible secondary search terms to ones that are synonyms or very nearly synonyms.
First try “Feminism AND 1001 Nights,” then “Feminism AND Arabian Nights,” then “Feminism AND Persian Folktales."
 
You may also want to change possible secondary search term to ones that vary in specificity.
”First try “Folktales AND Persia,” then “Folktales AND Western Asia,” then “Folktales AND Middle East.”

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