Reliable Library Sources and Authoritative Websites
If your topic has 2 points of view try these sources to get the arguments for and against.
- 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.
- 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.
- SIRS Issues Researcher - Tunxis Campus This link opens in a new window SIRS Issues Researcher is an editorially curated pro/con database designed for middle and high school students, university undergraduates, instructors, and librarians. Leading Issues pages provide a framework for understanding and analyzing over 360 complex social issues with overviews, essential questions, viewpoints, and editorially selected primary and secondary sources. All content is 100% full-text and selected from authoritative magazines, newspapers, photographs, books, statistics, infographics, websites, and more.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window CQ Researcher offers in-depth, unbiased coverage of political and social issues, with regular reports on a wide range of topics including: health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, the U.S. economy, crime, and civil liberties. This acclaimed and award-winning weekly publication provides a balanced view of today's most pressing social, political, and economic issues. Each weekly report covers the given topic in a non-sensationalized manner, and many reports feature a pro/con debate, highlighting both sides of the argument. Access over 700 hot topics with pros and cons for your research papers and projects.
Try Statista to Find Data and Statistics
Statista sources cover business and industry as well as education, political and social issues. The service also provides tools that allow you to create beautiful charts that can be downloaded as PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, or graphics formats.
- Statista This link opens in a new window Use Statista for immediate access to over one million statistics and facts. Statista is an online platform specialized in market and consumer data, which offers statistics and reports, market insights, consumer insights and company insights in German, English, Spanish and French. Additional modules include Company Insights, Ecommerce Insights, Consumer Insights. The reports, charts, infographics, and statistics found in the database can be viewed online or downloaded.
Journal Article Search
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window Academic Search Complete is the world's most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings. The database features PDF content going back as far as 1887, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals. View the EBSCO Search Tutorial Video
Streaming Educational Media
- Films On Demand This link opens in a new window A streaming video service that provides access to over 38,000 instructional and documentary videos from producers such as Films for the Humanities & Sciences, HBO, CNBC News, ABC News, PBS, BBC, Cengage Learning, Meridian, and others.
Public Opinion Polls
Find the Appropriate Federal or State Government Agency
Includes state and territorial government sources.
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A-Z Index of U.S. Government AgenciesAlso searchable by keyword, e.g. "fracking," will turn up appropriate agencies such as EPA, USGS, NIH, OSHA, etc...
Census Data
- Explore Census DataThe Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about our nation's people and economy.
Newspaper Sources
- New York Times (1985-present) This link opens in a new window This ProQuest version of full-text articles from The New York Times newspaper (Coverage Dates: 1985 to Present) includes local, regional, national, and international news coverage, including archived articles. Alternately, if you are looking for access to The New York Times Online Edition, please create a free library account at https://library.ctstate.edu/nytimes
- Hartford Courant (1992-current) This link opens in a new window Daily newspaper from Hartford, Connecticut. Coverage: 1992 - current. The Hartford Courant is the largest daily newspaper in Connecticut. Founded in 1764, it also is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States.
Finding Background Information
Search the Gale Virtual Reference Library for terms, people, concepts, e.g.: "Happiness," "Nicola Tesla," or "Positive Psychology"
- 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.
- Gale eBooks - Tunxis Campus This link opens in a new window Gale eBooks collection includes a variety of topics and subjects.
