Once you have chosen your country, you can use the online library catalog to search for print materials in our collection. When first searching the catalog you will see a variety of results, including ebooks, articles, videos, audio files, etc. You will need to adjust the Availability filter at the right to limit results to those "Held at Library." This will make sure that your results will only feature those books you can physically check out from Houff Library. Some books may still have online access capabilities, but you will also see a call number for our circulating collection. If you need any assistance finding a book in our stacks, please see a librarian at the Information desk.
A great resource to start your research with is Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations. This guide will show you how to use Worldmark Encyclopedia to do your research for your speech.
On the table of contents page, next to "Choose a volume," select the continent the culture you are researching is located in. Next, select the country in which the culture originates.
The Encyclopedia of Nations provides in-depth coverage of countries, including physical attributes, demographics, history, politics, culture, and foreign relations. You can navigate the content using the list on the right-hand side of the page.
If you are looking to research cultural communities that do not originate from differences in nationalities, our Very Short Introductions and Opposing Viewpoints in Context offer great introductions into concepts affecting and defining communities, such as ableism and neurodiversity. You can use the "Browse Issues" page to research relevant topic, or search directly using the search box at the top of the page.
