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Choose Your Topic

Every topic has at least 2 perspectives. Check out news sources (in print, on the radio/TV or online) and/or these items:

• CQ Researcher (see description below)
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (see description below)
• 100 Research Topic Guides for Students Ref LB1047.3 .B67 1996
• 10,000 Ideas for Term Papers, Projects, Reports and Speeches Ref LB1047.3 .L35 1991

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Successful Search Strategy

• Identify key concepts.
• Identify alternative terms for these concepts, if any. Examples: teenage, adolescent, youth, minor; death penalty, capital punishment.
• Refine your search to dates, location, population groups, etc., as needed.
• Plan ahead & start early: You’ll have more options.

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Suggested Sources:

• Books:

  • Subject Encyclopedias provide background information and leads for many topics. FIND IT: In GIL’s Advanced Search, add ‘encyclopedia’ to your keyword(s). You may have to use a more general term, e.g., ‘bioethics’ instead of ‘abortion’.
  • Greenhaven Press book series (Opposing Viewpoints, Current Controversies, At Issue). FIND IT: In GIL’s Advanced Search, add ‘greenhaven’ to your keyword(s); select Keyword Anywhere from the menu.
  • Search GIL at GUC and GIL at GPC for additional books on your subject.
  
  

• Articles:

  • Opposing Viewpoints (full-text)
    This database presents both sides of arguments on controversial topics.
  • CQ Electronic Library: Contains CQ Researcher and CQ Political Suite, good resources for current topics and their historical contexts, as well as several other electronic texts on U.S. government from 1923 - present.
  • Academic Search Premier (full-text) provides abstracts and indexing for over 3,800 publications, as well as full text for over 3,200 scholarly journals and general magazines. Coverage: 1984 – present.
  • LexisNexis Academic (full-text)
    Contains approximately 5,000 publications, virtually all include full text. Many types of publications are included: domestic and international newspapers, legal news, general interest magazines, medical journals, trade publications, company financial information, transcripts, wire service reports, government publications, law reviews, and reference works .
  
  

• Websites:*

  • GALILEO Internet Resources: Collection of sites organized by subject and selected by University of Georgia librarians. FIND IT: Click on Internet Resources on GALILEO’s homepage.
  • Official websites of national advocacy groups may have information that you can use, support or refute in your own arguments. FIND IT: Organizations’ names and URLs are listed in Greenhaven Press books and Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (in your search results, click on Web Sites).

*Evaluate websites critically. See our guide to Evaluating Web Sites

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Additional Resources:

Statistics can support your argument if used judiciously. FIND IT:

• Books: In GIL’s Advanced Search, add ‘statistics’ to your keyword(s). Also try Statistical Abstract of the United States (Ref HA202), a book of frequently asked statistics collected mostly by U.S. government agencies.
• Articles: Add ‘statistics’ to your keyword(s) when searching GALILEO databases.
• Internet: Statistical Resources on the Web, managed by University of Michigan Library Documents Center, links to statistical sites for numerous subjects. http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html

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