Contact Your Librarian
Choose a Topic
To find a topic of interest to you, you may want to consult:
- Course materials (Textbook, handouts, etc.)
- Instructor and/or peers
- Personal interests
- Library databases (in particular, In Context: Global Issues, In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, and Issues and Controversies)
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In Context: Global Issues This link opens in a new window Designed to support global awareness, In Context: Global Issues ties together a wealth of authoritative content that empowers students to critically analyze and understand the most important issues of the modern world. Explore issues within government, law, health, science and technology, society and culture; it contains 250 country pages and more than 400 issue pages along with 6,000 viewpoint commentaries.
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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.
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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.
5. Reference sources (use the library’s online reference databases)
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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.
Background Information
Search for encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and more. Great for background material!
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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.
Identify Keywords
Keywords are the main ideas or concepts of your topic question. Keep a list of these words because you will use them when searching for information on your topic. You will also want to come up with related terms in order to expand your searching.
Example topic question: What are the causes of anxiety in children?
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Keywords |
causes |
anxiety |
children |
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Related terms |
agents origin producers |
fear panic stress |
boys / girls kids preteens |
When searching, string your keywords together with “and” rather than entering the entire research question. Mix and match terms depending on results.
Example: origin and stress and children
Remember: Once you start searching, you may need to modify your topic and/or keywords depending on your results!
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Generating Keywords WorksheetThis worksheet is here to save you time and help you find information through the power of keywords! Whether you are using Google or a library database, keywords help you find information.
This worksheet will help you to turn key concepts from your research question into keywords, and come up with some synonyms to more effectively search for the information you need.
This activity works best with a partner!
Student Success Skills
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SAGE Skills Student Success This link opens in a new window SAGE Skills: Student Success empowers students to learn the practical academic and personal skills needed to thrive during their time in higher education and beyond. Dynamic multimedia modules focus on foundational skills across academic writing, critical thinking, information literacy, intercultural awareness, study strategies, and more.
Learn practical academic and personal skills to help you thrive! Topics include:
- Academic Integrity and Referencing
- Personal Development and Well Being
- Study Strategies and Assignments
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills