Introduction
TL-ALL-COVID19message
Research Help is still available during remote instruction!
Email or chat your subject librarian using the contact information on the right of this page. We can provide remote research assistance via Zoom (which allows for screensharing), chat, email, and phone.
Introduction Mod Lang
Modern Languages
The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with the best resources for research on the languages offered at CSUSM (Arabic, French, German, Japanese and Spanish).
General
Beyond textbooks used in class, there are dictionaries, pronunciation guides, and reference works to help you develop skills in your new language and do research on topics of interest around the world. Here are some examples:
Dictionaries
Oxford-Hachette French dictionary : French-English, English-French
REF PC2640 .O83 1994Collins German-English, English-German Dictionary
REF PF3640 .C68 1995Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary
BOOK STACKS PL679 .O946 2000bAmerican Heritage Spanish Dictionary: Spanish/English, Ingl�s/Espa�ol
REF PC4640 .A47 2001Handbook of English-Arabic for Professionals
REF PJ6640 .S47 1983
Pronunciation and Usage
Using French: A Guide to Contemporary Usage
BOOK STACKS PC2460 .B37 2000Using German Synonyms
BOOK STACKS PF3591 .D87 2000Dictionary of Japanese Particles
BOOK STACKS PL601 .K39 1999Writer's Reference Guide to Spanish
REF PC4410 .F68 1999A Handbook of Pronunciation : English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Esperanto
REF P221 .C276 2005
Other Resources (just a sample)
Oxford Guide to Film Studies
BOOK STACKS PN1995.9 .O93 1998Spanish Women Writers: A Bio-bibliographical Source Book
REF PQ6055 .S63 1993Who's Who in the World
REF CT120 .W5 2004Arabic Literary Culture, 500-925
REF PJ7521 .A73 2005
Books & Catalog
Books & Catalog Mod Lang
Books
To develop your reading skills, practice helps! CSUSM offers general literature for reading in a variety of languages. Also, the materials held in the Language Learning Center are listed in the library catalog to show the great resources available there.
Books at Cal State San Marcos
Here are several strategies for successful searching in the Library Catalog:
Keyword search
In the simple search screen, type your topic in the KEYWORD search and use the Modify Search function to restrict the search once you have the list of results. The Modify Search button allows you to choose from the language options and brings back texts and movies in both English (translated from the language requested) and materials published in the language.
Other options to locate books and videos:
Circuit (1-3 day delivery)
Search the collections of other San Diego area libraries -- about 3,000,000 books. Find and request books directly online; pick them up at our Library in 1-3 days.
WorldCat (5-10 day delivery)
Search the collections of libraries world-wide -- about 52,000,000 books. Find a book in this database, and fill-out an Interlibrary Loan delivery request. Book will be delivered to Library for pickup.
Browse the Book Stacks
Sometimes, just looking through the shelves can turn up works you would not have considered otherwise. Using the Library of Congress subject system, languages are shelved in the P call number area. The Library of Congress provides a list of the subclasses in the P area so you can see how this is organized.
Useful Subject Terms
Library catalogs use specific subject headings to group related books together. This is different from the genre search discussed above in that genre headings address the specific format and writing style, but subject headings identify the topic of the work.
- Short stories, German
- Political fiction, Spanish
- Authors, Spanish -- 20th century -- Biography
- Japanese language -- Dictionaries -- English
- French drama
- Arabic Language -- Periodicals
Finding a Person in the Catalog
What type of search depends on whether you are looking for works BY or works ABOUT the person.
Looking for works by a specific author? Use the AUTHOR search option and type the name in lastname, firstname order. Be sure to spell correctly! A search on Borges, Jorge Luis as author brings back 64 works that he wrote in the CSUSM collection. A similar search through CIRCUIT will return even more.
Looking for works about an author? Borges, Jorge Luis as a SUBJECT search brings back 21 different subject headings, some of which have a number of works attached (23 titles have the subject heading 'criticism and interpretation'.) Notice the lastname, firstname order!
Articles & Journals
Articles & Journals Mod Lang
Articles & Journals
Journal and most newspaper articles are found through research databases. Several databases provide material in your chosen language and others address topics you may be researching for your class. They all include some of the latest news and research in the field. To find articles, you need to select an appropriate database and if you need help, we are here!
Some databases do not offer full text of the articles. Use the button to check our other resources for full text.
This is a listing of some of the databases with languages other than English.
Useful for Research on Languages
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
Provides abstracts of articles from about 2,000 journals (published worldwide), coverage of recent books, book review citations and dissertation listings.
Coverage: 1973→currentERIC
A national database of education literature, including reports and journal articles.
Coverage: 1966→currentMLA
Includes abstracts of articles from critical literary and language journals.
Coverage: 1963→currentJSTOR
Contains (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American & Asian studies, literature, humanities, music, and biological, health & general sciences.
Coverage: 1838→2005Project Muse
Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics
Coverage: 1993→current
Some Materials in Languages Other Than English
ClasePeriodica
Search 2,600 scholarly Latin American journals in the sciences and humanities.
Coverage: 1975→currentMAS Ultra - School Edition
Provides full-text for over 460 general interest and current events magazines.
Coverage: 1985→currentScienceDirect
Provides full text access to over 1,000 journals covering all fields of science.
Coverage: 1995→currentSociological Abstracts
Provides access to the latest international findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and political science.
Coverage: 1963→current
Newspapers
Newspapers Mod Lang
Newspapers
Journal and newspaper articles are found in our research databases. Several databases provide material in your chosen language and other databases address topics you may be researching for your class. They all include some of the latest news and research in the field. To find articles, you need to select an appropriate database and if you need help, we are here! This is a listing of some of the databases with languages other than English.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Full-text ethnic newspapers, searchable in English or Spanish.ProQuest Newspapers
Includes coverage of over 300 major U.S. and international newspapers, such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune.
Online Newspapers, Magazines and News Agencies
A good means to practice your reading skills. Some are offered in English language versions as well--that can help if you want to check your understanding of what you are reading.
Arabic
- Newspapers in the Middle East (listing for general and by country; via al-bab.com)
- Al-Quds
- Al-Shaab
French
- Courrier International (political & world news)
- L’Equipe (sports news)
- L’Express (literary and political reviews)
- Le Figaro (newspaper)
- Investir (stock and business news)
- Le Monde (general news)
- Le Pointe
- Reuters (news agency)
German
- Berliner Morgenpost (daily news)
- Die Zeit (weekly news)
- Stern (weekly magazine)
Japanese
- CNN Japan (news)
- Yomiuri Shimbun (newspaper)
Spanish
- El Mundo (newspaper)
- El Nuevo Herald (US) (Spanish language news published in US)
Media
Media Mod Lang
Media
Want to watch a film or listen to a CD in your language? We have materials in the library collection to meet your needs. There are different ways to find items, dependent on what you are doing--language practice or researching a specific topic.
From the library home page, type a topic or subject into the search box. When your results are lists, use the REFINE SEARCH button and choose Location=Media.
You can also use the REFINE SEARCH command to limit to a specific language from the list provided or add the name of the language desired to your orginial search terms.
Online Resources
Online Resources Mod Lang
Online Resources
There are a wide variety of online language resources, some are of questionable quality, but others are very good. Be careful and do further research before accepting anything posted as factual. All information is subject to an author's bias that might exclude important information.
- Digital South Asia Library provides access to teaching tools as well as reference and reading texts.
- Ethnologue: Languages of the World information on the 6912 known languages of the world.
- Foreign Service Institute Language Courses were developed for the US Government, but not by a government agency.
- Speech Accent Archive from George Mason University provides sound clips of native and non-native speakers for comparison of different speech patterns.
- Worldwide Schools Language Lessons are developed by the Peace Corps as podcasts and include some sign language lessons. Also available on the main page are videos of daily life in some of the countries the Peace Corps has had a presence.
General and Government Websites
Most countries have websites, which may be the official government site with links to education, culture, research or other information to help you in your research. Some sites are aimed towards tourism or provide a very biased and restricted view of the country, so may not be useful for research, but still useful for reading practice.
How to tell if you have the country's official site? Look at the domain name. It should NOT be a .org or .com. The country code (with the exception of the United States) identifies the country's official server (examples are .fr is for France, .es is for Spain). A complete list of official national websites is at Northwestern University's Foreign Governments site. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority site provides the list of domain names for all countries of the world.
Citing Sources
MLA - APA - Chicago
MLA Citations for Students
As you write your paper, you'll need to cite passages and ideas from the sources you've found. In order to cite your resources properly, you need to follow the style guide used by for this class, the MLA Handbook.
Sites with examples of in-text citations and works cited pages (supplement the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers)
- MLA Quick Citation Guide (Penn State University)
- Cite Source (Trinity College)
Offers help on citations, quotations, and intellectual property - KnightCite
Citation generator--be sure you choose the MLA format!
In the library:
MLA handbook for writers of research papers.
7th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
APA: American Psychological Association
APA Style
APA style guide for electronic resources
Library Copies (BF76.7 .P83 2001)
Chicago/Turabian Style & Citations
The Chicago Manual of Style is the preference for most history researchers, but always check with your professor before proceeding on both citation style and which version. The Notes-Bibliography system is generally preferred in Chicago-style citations, but there is also an Author-Date system. These systems use different formatting, so be sure which your professor prefers.
IMPORTANT! Late 2010, University of Chicago Press issued a new edition for this style guide. Check your resources to make sure you are being given the latest information based on the 16th edition as not all sites have updated yet. Notable changes are listed here.
Chicago may be referred to as Turabian, after Kate Turabian, who wrote a manual for students for research, writing and citing sources based on the Chicago citation style. The current version is titled A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. The CSUSM library keeps a copy at the Research Help Desk at LB2369 .T8 2007 and a copy on permanent Reserves (Checkout Desk.)
Some helpful web sites:
Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide (University of Chicago, the publishers of the Manual, this is based on the 16th edition)
Citing Electronic Information in History Papers (U of Memphis, varies slightly from the guidelines of the 16th edition.)
Arabic
Arabic
Dictionaries
Handbook for English-Arabic for Professionals
5th Floor Stacks: PJ6640 .S47 1983
Milet picture dictionary, English-Arabic
Hansen Curriculum Room: PJ6640 .T87 2003
Pronunciation and Usage
A handbook of pronunciation : English, Italian, French, German, SPanish Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, Esperanto
5th Floor Stacks: P221 .C276 2005
Helpful e-Books
Arabic for Dummies
Arabic Today A Student, Business and Professional Course in Spoken and Written Arabic
Useful LC Subject Headings
Arabic language
Arabic Poetry
Koran -- Language, style
Languages in contact -- Arab countries
Online Newspapers, Magazines and News Agencies
Arab News Media Online (link is external)(listing for general and by country, in Arabic and in English)
Al-Quds (link is external)(Palestinian daily newspaper, based in Jerusalem)
French
French
Dictionaries
The Cambridge French-English thesaurus
5th Floor Stacks: PC2591 .L24 1998
Milet picture dictionary, English-French
Hansen Curriculum Room: PC2640 .T87 2003
The Oxford-Hachette French dictionary : French-English, English-French
Pronunciation and Usage
Media French : a vocabulary of contemporary usage
5th Floor Stacks: PC2460 .R58 2008
Using French : a guide to contemporary usage
5th Floor Stacks: PC2460 .B37 2000
Helpful e-Books
French All-in-One For Dummies
French Grammar For Dummies
Useful LC Subject Headings
French drama
French fiction
French language -- history
French literature
Online Newspapers, Magazines and News Agencies
Courrier International (link is external)(political & world news)
L’Equipe (link is external) (sports news)
L’Express (link is external) (link is external)(literary and political reviews)
Le Figaro (link is external) (newspaper)
Investir (link is external) (stock and business news)
Le Monde (link is external) (general news)
Le Pointe (link is external)(conservative news magazine)
Reuters (link is external) (news agency)
German
German
Dictionaries
Collins German-English, English-German Dictionary
5th Floor Stacks: PF3640 .C68 1995
Milet picture dictionary, English-German
Oxford German dictionary and grammar
5th Floor Stacks: PF3640 .O943 2001
Pronunciation and Usage
Grammar handbook for reading German texts
5th Floor Stacks: PF3112 .R63 1985
Using German Synonyms
5th Floor Stacks: PF3591 .D87 2000 or as an ebook
Useful LC Subject Headings
American literature -- German influences
Civilization -- German influences
German literature
Germany -- Civilization
Short stories, German
Online Newspapers, Magazines and News Agencies
Berliner Morgenpost (link is external) (daily news)
Die Zeit (link is external) (weekly news)
Stern (link is external) (weekly magazine)
Japanese
Japanese
Dictionaries
Kodansha's romanized Japanese-English Dictionary
5th Floor Stacks: PL679 .V36 1993
Merriam-Webster's Japanese-English learner's dictionary
5th Floor Stacks: PL679 .K38213 1993
Milet picture dictionary, English-Japanese
Hansen Curriculum Room: PL676 .T87 2003
Oxford Starter Japanese Dictionary
5th Floor Stacks: PL679 .O946 2000b
Pronunciation and Usage
Dictionary of Japanese Particles
5th Floor Stacks: PL601 .K39 1999
Japanese business language : an essential dictionary
4th Floor Stacks: HF1002 .J358 1987
Japanese/English English/Japanese glossary of scientific and technical terms
5th Floor Stacks: Q123 .T844 1993
Helpful e-Books
Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionary
Useful LC Subject Headings
Japan -- Civilization
Japan -- Description and travel
Japan -- History
Japanese language
Online News papers, Magazines and News Agencies
Asahi Shimbun (link is external) (major Japanese newspaper)
CNN Japan (link is external) (news)
Mainichi Shimbun (link is external) (major Japanese newspaper)
Nikkei (link is external) (Japanese economic newspaper)
Sankei Simbun (link is external)(Japanese daily economic newspaper)
Yomiuri Shimbun (link is external) (major Japanese newspaper)
Mandarian Chinese
Mandarin Chinese
Dictionaries
Milet picture dictionary, English-Chinese
Hansen Curriculum Room: PL1455 .T87 2003
Oxford starter Chinese dictionary
5th Floor Stacks: PL1455 .O925 2000
Pronunciation & Usage
Chinese Language(s) A Look through the Prism of the Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese Dialects
Helpful e-books
Chinese for Dummies
Useful LC Subject Headings
China -- Social conditions
China -- Civilization
Chinese -- Foreign countries -- Social conditions
Chinese language
Online Newspapers, Magazines and News Agencies
Spanish
Spanish
Dictionaries
American Heritage Spanish Dictionary: Spanish/English, Ingles/Español
Diccionario del Uso del Español
Diccionario de la Lengua Española
5th Floor Stacks: PC4625 .A3 2001
Diccionario de Uso del Español de América y España
Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas
Diccionario Esencial
Clave : Diccionario de Uso del Español Actual
Guía Práctica del Español Actual: Diccionario Breve de Dudas y Dificultades
Helpful e-Books
Diccionario de la Real Academia Española
Useful LC Subject Headings
Spanish language -- Errors of usage -- Dictionaries
Spanish language materials
Online Newspapers, Magazines and News Agencies
El Mundo (link is external) (newspaper)
El Nuevo Herald (link is external) (Spanish language news published in US)
Articles
Many journal, newspaper, magazine and newspaper articles are found through the research databases below in both English and in Spanish languages.
HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index
Indexes journals from 1970 on providing information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Hispanics in the United States.
MLA
Includes abstracts of articles from critical literary and language journals.
Coverage: 1963→current
JSTOR
Contains (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American & Asian studies, literature, humanities, music, and biological, health & general sciences.
Coverage: 1838→2005
Project Muse
Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics
Coverage: 1993→current
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980
Spanish and English language newspapers offering news, advertisements, opinion and more from across the nation reflecting contemporary thought and activity.
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
Provides abstracts of articles from about 2,000 journals (published worldwide), coverage of recent books, book review citations and dissertation listings.
Coverage: 1973→current
ClasePeriodica
Search 2,600 scholarly Latin American journals in the sciences and humanities.
Coverage: 1975→current
Sitewide guides menu
Torie Quiñonez

760-750-4353
KEL 3426