World Languages & Cultures

French

The World Languages and Cultures (WLC) Department offers the following programs:

Minor in French Language & Culture

Undergraduate students from any of Drake University's schools or colleges are eligible.

Below are resources related to French studies. To view other available databases, feel free to browse the general database section of the research guide.

DATABASE ACCESS

Your Drake ID (9 digits) and password will be required to access the below databases.

If you experience any technical issues while logging in, please call the Drake ITS Help Desk at 515-271-3001. Phone support is available 24/7.

The ITS Service Portal can help you with Blackboard or other computer problems

ARTICLES

Academic Search Ultimate
Journals, magazines, and newspapers in almost every subject area.
ARTFL Project
Collections of digitized resources on the French language. Note: from the home page, click "Subscription Databases" to navigate to a specific collection.
Browzine
BrowZine lets you browse, read, save, and monitor scholarly journals in your subject areas on your mobile device or desktop/laptop.
Credo Reference
Reference articles covering all major academic subjects.
eScholarShare
Scholarly repository of Drake University. Includes 1000+ electronic theses & dissertations.
Gale eBooks
Reference works and eBooks in all subject areas.
Gale Primary Sources
Search interface for all Gale Primary Source databases.
Gender Watch
Journal articles in gender, sexuality, and women's studies.
Global Issues
A resource for international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues, topics, and current events.
JSTOR
More than a thousand academic journals and over 1 million images, letters, and other primary sources
Literature Resource Center
Biographies, bibliographies, and critical analysis of authors and their works from every age and literary discipline.
Modern Language Association (MLA ) International Bibliography
Modern Languages Association search for literature, language/linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory, and dramatic arts. Links to some full-text where available.
Motif-Index of Folk Literature
An index to themes and motifs in folk literature from Ireland to India.
Music and Performing Arts
Music, dance, and theatre resources in a wide range of formats (including scores, reference, audio, and video).
Music Index Online
Guide to music periodicals and literature featuring content from 1970 to present
Project Muse
Full-text of 200 scholarly journals published by Johns Hopkins University and other university presses.
Very Short Introductions
Concise introductions to a wide range of subjects.
World History
Articles, reference works, and primary documents that cover the events, movements, and individuals that have shaped world history.

CITATION GUIDE

Chicago Manual of Style
16th and 17th editions of the Chicago Manual of Style.

DATA AND STATISTICS

International Historical Statistics
Statistical compendium covering the years 1750-2010 (with annual updates). Includes all statistical tables as Excel spreadsheets, which can be downloaded for further analysis. Topics include population, national accounts, labor force, agriculture, external trade and industry. Each section has a full description of the sources used to compile the statistics.
Sage Data
Formerly Data Planet Statistical Datasets. Statistical data in a wide range of subject areas, with tools for searching, analyzing and visualizing.
World DataBank
Access to nation-by-nation (or aggregate) statistical data.

DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Britanica Online
The complete encyclopedia, as well as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, Britannica Student Encyclopedia, and the Britannica Book of the Year.
Grove Dictionary of American Music
Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition (2013).

EBOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS

Faculty Select
Faculty Select helps Drake University faculty find and select affordable, barrier-free textbooks for their courses. Faculty can find openly licensed textbooks, eBooks the library owns, and eBooks the library does not own but is willing to purchase.
Gale eBooks
Reference works and eBooks in all subject areas.
Libby
Popular eBooks and audiobooks.
Overdrive
Popular eBooks and audiobooks. Sign in with your Drake email address and password.

IMAGES

INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING

Mango
Interactive language-learning database covering 71 languages.

GENEOLOGY

Ancestry Library Edition
Ancestor search and genealogical information from census records, historical maps, and more.

LIBRARY CATALOGS

HathiTrust Digital Library
Search or view complete books in the public domain.
WorldCat
Locate books, journals and magazines, music scores, and media in libraries worldwide.

STREAMING VIDEO AND MUSIC

Academic Video Online (AVON)
Documentaries, educational films, and news clips in many subject areas.
Kanopy
Kanopy is a video streaming platform for libraries with a collection featuring over 26,000 movies, documentaries, and indie and foreign films from hundreds of producers including The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Kino Lorber, and PBS and thousands of independent filmmakers. Instructors must request that the library purchase a license to a film before it can be made available for viewing.
Naxos Music Library
Streamed recordings of primarily classical music. Also includes world/folk music, Chinese orchestral, folk, and traditional music. 5 simultaneous users
Swank Streaming Films
A curated collection of streaming films chosen to align with Drake courses. Instructors may request access to non-licensed Swank films if they register with an instructor account. Guide to Swank Streaming Films (https://library.drake.edu/streaming/swank)

DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Collins French Dictionary
A French-to-English and English-to-French dictionary.
Ethnologue, Languages of the World
An encyclopedic reference work cataloging all of the world’s 6,909 known living languages

INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING

Foreign Service Instititute Language Courses
This is the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute. These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain. This site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format.
Forvo: All the words of the world pronounced
"Forvo is the largest pronunciation guide in the world. Ever wondered how a word is pronounced? Ask for that word or name, and another user will pronounce it for you."

LIBRARY CATALOGS

Catalogue Collectif de France (CCFr)
A French national union catalog that allows the search of multiple French libraries, archives and museums.
Gallica
The digital library of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF). Contains electronic texts, images, maps, animation, and sound files.

NEWS

La Presse
A Montreal French-language digital newspaper.
Le Monde
A French daily newspaper.

ORGANIZATIONS

American Association of Teachers of French
Promotes the study and teaching of the French language and culture.
Association for French Language Studies
Promotes French-language teaching and French linguistics research in Higher Education.
International and Foreign Language Education (U.S. Office of Post-Secondary Education)
IFLE is "responsible for encouraging and promoting the study of foreign languages and cultures of other countries." The site has links to U.S. domestic and overseas programs.

STREAMING VIDEO

Kanopy (Des Moines Public Library)
A video streaming platform provided by the Des Moines Public Library that offers free access to movies with a Des Moines Public Library card.

Drake has signed agreements with international partner institutions where Drake students can attend partner institutions, while a student from their institution comes to study at Drake.

Currently, Drake has an exchange agreement with Université de Nantes of France.

World Languages & Cultures

French

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