Explore Topic Ideas
Before diving into your research, it is important to select a suitable topic. To find the right subject, start by conducting initial exploration and then refine your topic before proceeding with your search. There are several valuable resources that can assist you in generating potential research topics. Consider utilizing the following sources to inspire and guide your topic selection process:
- In Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window Opposing Viewpoints offers material to support differing views to help develop critical thinking skills on thousands of current social topics in the forms of primary source documents, statistics, websites and multimedia. Find overviews, news, and opinions on hundreds of today's important social issues, including racism, capital punishment, global warming, and voting rights with reference sources, newspaper and magazine articles, scholarly journals, court cases, government documents, viewpoints, maps, images, audio, video and websites.
Opposing Viewpoints offers material to support differing views and help you develop critical thinking skills on thousands of current social issues by providing a pro/con discussion of subjects through the use of articles, book chapters, government reports, news transcripts, and many other types of publications. After exploring its pro/con viewpoints, reference articles, interactive maps, infographics, and more, you will be more prepared to argue any side of the issue.
- Issues & Controversies This link opens in a new window Featuring a dynamic design and a wealth of features, Issues & Controversies helps researchers understand today's crucial issues by exploring hundreds of hot topics in politics, government, business, society, education, and popular culture. Issues and Controversies provides up-to-date, in-depth and objective information on prominent and hotly debated issues. It combines objective analysis with clear explanations of opposing points of view. Chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information augment the balanced, accurate coverage of current and historical events.
Issues and Controversies will help you explore the most current problems we face today. Its straightforward presentation of the key facts, arguments, history, and current context of today’s most important and timely issues makes the database an ideal resource for research papers, debate preparation, and persuasive writing assignments. Not sure where to start? Browse topics under the "Popular Issues" and "All Issues by Subject" sections on the homepage. After selecting a topic you will be directed to a page with background information and resources on your selection.
- TOPICsearch This link opens in a new window Current events database for social, political, and economic issues, scientific discoveries, and more. Full text sources include international and regional newspapers, periodicals, biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, and government information.
TOPICsearch is a current events database covering social, political, and economic issues as well as scientific discoveries and other popular topics. The database contains full text of over one hundred thousand articles from more than a thousand diverse sources including international and regional newspapers, periodicals, biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, and government information. The search options allow you to select particular current events and popular topics from drop-down menus.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Credo Reference is a general knowledge database providing articles, images, charts, maps and other materials on thousands of topics. With 750+ searchable, full-text titles, Credo Reference places particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks. Also included are more than 1,100 short reference videos, more than 475,000 high-resolution art images, photographs, and maps across all subject areas.
Credo Reference provides access to thousands of articles from reference sources such as encyclopedias and dictionaries. It is a great place to find overviews and background information on your research topic. The articles come from highly respectable reference sources. You can use these types of sources to gain knowledge on the subject and to help you focus or narrow your topic.. Not sure where to start? Consider browsing the topics under "Research Popular Topics" section on the database's homepage, which breaks topics down into three popular categories: Humanities, Health & Medicine, and Environmental Sciences. After selecting a topic to explore, you will be presented with definitions, basic concepts surrounding your topic, and a mind map that illustrates how your topic is connected to others.