Research Guides: World Languages and Cultures: American Sign Language

Overview

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

ASL 001: Beginning American Sign Language I - offered every fall semester
ASL 002: Beginning American Sign Language II - offered every spring semester
ASL 070: Deaf Culture - offered every spring semester

Undergraduate students from any of Drake University's schools or colleges are eligible. Course descriptions are available on the department's Courses webpage.

Below are resources related to American Sign Language studies.

Common Search Terms:

American Sign Language
Deaf
Deaf Culture
Deaf education
Deafness
Interpreting for the Deaf
Sign Language

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

Databases

ARTICLES

Academic Search Ultimate
Journals, magazines, and newspapers in almost every subject area.
Browzine
BrowZine lets you browse, read, save, and monitor scholarly journals in your subject areas on your mobile device or desktop/laptop.
CQ Researcher
Discussions of current, controversial public policy issues. It offers pros & cons, background information, and in-depth analysis on a variety of topics, issues, and controversies currently in the news.
Credo Reference
Reference articles covering all major academic subjects.
Current Contents Connect
Complete tables of contents and bibliographic information from scholarly journals and books; also includes relevant, evaluated websites and documents.
Dissertations and Theses Global
Citation and full-text access to theses and dissertations from around the world.
eScholarShare
Scholarly repository of Drake University. Includes 1000+ electronic theses & dissertations.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Articles written primarily by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian & Pacific Islander, and Jewish people.
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.
PsycINFO
Citation and abstract search in behavioral science and mental health.
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

Data Citation Index
Indexes data studies and datasets across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences and links the datasets/studies with published literature.
Sage Data
Formerly Data Planet Statistical Datasets. Statistical data in a wide range of subject areas, with tools for searching, analyzing and visualizing.

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.
Oxford Reference Online
Access to dictionaries & reference works in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Limit of 5 simultaneous users.

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

Artstor
Digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences. Note: On Aug. 1, 2023, Artstor images moved to the JSTOR platform.

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.
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://researchguides.drake.edu/streaming/swank)

Websites

DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS

ASL-LEX
A database of lexical and phonological properties of American Sign Language signs.
ASLPRO.CC
Provides free, easy-to-use reference and learning tools to enhance in-classroom learning for ASL Educators and their Students.
Ethnologue, Languages of the World
An encyclopedic reference work cataloging all of the world’s 6,909 known living languages
Handspeak
An online database of American Sign Language resources.

INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING

ASL-LEX
A database of lexical and phonological properties of American Sign Language signs.
ASLPRO.CC
Provides free, easy-to-use reference and learning tools to enhance in-classroom learning for ASL Educators and their Students.
Handspeak
An online database of American Sign Language resources.

LIBRARY CATALOGS

Gallaudet University Archives
Gallaudet University has the world’s largest collection on deaf people, deaf culture, deaf history, sign languages, audiology, speech, deaf education and deaf related organizations (excerpt from the Archives introduction).
National Center On Deafness (NCOD) Resource Center
Provides deaf-related books, journals, dissertations, videotapes, DVDs, CDs and documents.

NEWS

The Daily Moth
Trending news and deaf topics presented in American Sign Language.
Deaf Nation
Provides news and videos of deaf people in the United States and worldwide.
Sign1News
News in American Sign Language in partnership with CNN.

ORGANIZATIONS

American Sign Language Teachers Association
Promotes the teaching of American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf Culture.
National Association of the Deaf
A civil rights organization of, by, and for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in the United States of America.
Thrive Together
An organization that empowers Deaf and individuals with hearing loss through Advocacy, Education & Collaboration

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.

Cowles Library

World Languages and Cultures

Overview

Database Access

Databases

Websites