Writing an essay in a free form allows us to tell a story or express our thoughts and ideas on a specific topic. However, writing a cultural essay is a different ball game. You can’t share biased thoughts about a culture without offending people from that part of the world. Plus, you are supposed to provide only accurate information when writing on such sensitive topics like culture.
When writing on Vietnamese culture in particular, one should use only reputable research sources. If you work with an essay writing service or write about Vietnam for a school project yourself, you should learn to source information to craft the best essay. And for a country with a culture as rich as Vietnam, finding and sourcing information for your writing won’t be complex.
Information sources for writing essays on Vietnamese culture
1. The internet
When you have an essay to write, the first place to check for information is the internet. Search engines can be your best tools if you know how to get the best out of them. But using the internet to find information on a paper Vietnam people would appreciate can be frustrating. So, here are some tips for getting the most recent and trustworthy news on Vietnamese culture online:
● Use the right search engine
Google’s search engine provides the widest variety of results compared to others, which is helpful when you need ample information on Vietnam. But you can also suffer from information overload when using it. So to get academic information about Vietnam culture from Google, use the Google Scholar option. This feature shows you scholarly articles that would have taken you forever to find using other searches. You can also complement the results from Google Scholar with Wolfram Alpha, which is useful when you need statistics and data.
● Use Vietnamese tourist sites
Some of the best websites where you can find cultural information about Vietnam are available on tourist platforms. They share helpful information about the country there, and it will come in handy when you can’t find any specific facts in other searches. You could even explore the country virtually thanks to virtual tour platforms and see places that will help you understand its history.
2. Folklore
Vietnamese folklore is another valuable information source when writing Vietnamese cultural essays. When you read the cultural stories of the country, you will get ideas about its people’s core beliefs. The lore will help you experience one of the ways Vietnamese society instills a sense of moral uprightness in its children, which explains the high ethical standards of its citizens.
Look at folklore as a window into other cultures and a mirror to reflect on your traditions. You can find Vietnamese folklore on YouTube and other story platforms. However, it is essential to note that you can’t entirely bank on stories because some are just figments of people’s imaginations.
3. Vietnam locals
You can get helpful information about Vietnamese culture directly from the country’s people. If you are up for it, you can travel to the country and befriend the locals.
But if you can’t travel abroad, you can go to some states with many Vietnamese immigrants. The two states in the United States that have the most Vietnamese residents are Texas and California. You can enter a Viet noodle bar in either state and after buying food, warm up to the Vietnamese workers and tactfully ask them questions for your essay. Respect and politeness are pleasing to the Vietnamese people, so start your conversations by saying Bạn có khỏe không, which means how are you in Vietnamese.
4. Libraries
One of the ideal places to find information for your paper on Vietnamese culture is the library. There, you can find journal publications and newspapers which you can read to get information on how Vietnamese culture and traditions fuel different events in their society. You can even go ahead and read history books about Vietnam to learn the country’s origins.
The library can sometimes contain information that’s not relevant for you. But if you check online for the right kind of books to get information about Vietnamees culture, you will significantly reduce the time you spend scouring books. Besides, librarians will always guide you and give you helpful information about the books with the most updated information on Vietnam in their archives.
Conclusion
Writing cultural essays is an excellent way for students to learn more and expand their horizons because it can also change their bias about certain cultures. But much of that learning curve depends on the information sources students rely on. So when writing a Vietnamese cultural essay, get your information from the most reliable sources. And as far as excellent research sources on Vietnam culture go, the ones highlighted in this article are as good as you can get.
