ENGL 101 English Composition 1

Explore Persuasive Essay Topics

Explore Current Issues & Points of View in Holman Library Databases

Browse for ideas or Search specific topics in Gale Opposing Viewpoints, Global Issues in Context, and CQ Researcher. 

  • In Opposing Viewpoints and Global Issues in Context explore Topics and for each topic, review Viewpoints to get a sense of the range of arguments and perspectives on the topic. 
  • In CQ Researcher, explore a range of current topics. Go to the Pro/Con section for a mini-debate on the topic analyzed in the report. 

See the images below for Opposing Viewpoints and CQ Researcher.

Explore Topic Ideas and Arguments in Opposing Viewpoints

  • Click on Browse Issues or Start with a Broad Category. You may also enter a keyword at Search.

Browse for Ideas & Arguments in Opposing Viewpoints 

  • This image shows just some of the 355 Topic Pages under Society and Culture

OV society and culture topics

  • The image below shows the Topic Page for Gentrification, selected from the broad topic Society and Culture.
    • Reference articles provide a topic overview and foundational facts.
    • Viewpoint essays each present a different argument on the topic. 
    • To test your topic, look through other resources in this one database as well.

Society and Culture > Gentrification

Explore Topic Ideas and Arguments in CQ Researcher

  • Browse for Argumentative Topic Ideas. Click on a broad topic area and explore subtopics - or search by keyword.

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An image of the first search page in CQ Researcher pointing out the ways to search by topic area

Using the Pro/Con Section of CQ Researcher Reports

While CQ Researcher reports present a controversial topic and question without taking a stand on them, the Pro/Con section features an informed debate on one small question related to the larger topic. Many reports in the CQ Researcher database include a pro/con section. 

  • Once you have the report open, click the "Pro/Con" section from the contents menu on the side, or scroll down to that section of the article and expand each author's point of view. 

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Screenshot showing the two ways to get to the Pro/Con section of the article as explained in the text above the image

Locating Pro/Con Articles by Subject Area

You can also browse a list of reports that have Pro/Con sections 

  1. From the CQ Researcher starting page, click the "Pro/Con" tab 

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The image shows the CQ Researcher homepage and highlights the tab to browse "Pro/Con" articles

  1. As shown in the image below, you will then see an alphabetical list of topics that you can click through. 

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the image shows the expanded pro/con section with a clickable, alphabetical list of topics

  1. Once you click on a larger topic area, you will then see a list of reports related to that topic - along with the questions posed and answered in those report's Pro/Con sections

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The image shows the list of pro/con sections and the related reports the sections are from

Explore Current Topic and Debate Websites Online

Sample Browsing:

As shown in the image below, this website is a great one for looking at both sides of a controversial topic. Search by keyword, or look through the lists of current and common topics to view articles.

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this is a screenshot of the homepage of procon.org

 

Explore the Argument on Issues in the News

Editorials are a great way to find reasoned opinions on current controversial topics. Use these specialized searches to find full-text editorials in the library's databases. 

Type in a keyword or keyword combination that captures an issue. In the image below, that is "social media".

  • Depending on the database, either type in editorial as subject or limit to editorials and opinion under document type. 

In Academic Search Complete

In this database you can search using a keyword, and then add "editorials" in as an actual Subject Term (selecting "SU Subject Terms" from the "Select a Field (optional)" dropdown as shown in the image below:

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limit the search to Editorials by clicking on Subect Terms-SU from the drop down menu that appears after the search box

In ProQuest

In this database, you can use the "Document Type" limiter as outlined in the text and images below:

  • First, type in your search terms
    • Be sure to use quotation marks around specific terms to search the terms as a single concept, rather than two independent words
  • Here you can also limit to "Full-text" - so you will only see results for articles that you can immediately download. 
  • Based on your topic, you may need to also limit by date to find the most recent articles. Choose an appropriate date range.

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screenshot of Proquest, showing the search boxes, highlighting the "full-text" box to check, and the date range option to narrow your results if needed. 

  • Then, as shown in the image below, scroll down on the advanced search page to limit by "Document Type" - choosing "Editorials" from the options before searching.

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screenshot of the "document type" limiting option on the advanced search page of ProQuest

One Search

You can use the Holman Library One Search to find Books (and more) in the library collection.

You can also use the One Search to explore ideas. Type in a search and skim the results list to see what journalists and researchers are discussing on the subject.

  • Build your search slowly with multiple search terms. 
  • When relevant, use quotation marks to keep words together, as a phrase. Example: "affordable housing"

Note: You may find it helpful to go to individual databases for fewer results, more subject terms, up-to-date streaming video content, and more.

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advanced search boxes

Browse for Ideas

While I found too many sources (31,378) with my search of affordable housing AND homeless*, I see ideas on how I could focus my topic. For example, these sources are talking about affordable housing, homelessness, and: mental health, policy, emergency shelters, community development, homeless individuals, poverty, and much more. 

  • I can also use the limiters on the left to filter your results by source type, subject, date, language, and more.

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Affordable housing-results-list-primo

Use Gale eBooks Reference Collection to Explore Topics

Searching Background Information

Find a wealth of informative articles on a wide range of research topics in the online academic reference collection, Gale Ebooks (formerly called Gale Virtual Reference Library) This is also a great tool for generating topic ideas.

Sample search

As shown in the image below, you can see how to search using basic keywords. Start with a broad topic and see what results come up.

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keyword search in gale

Once you see a list of results, take note of the topic of the larger subject-specific encyclopedia the shorter article comes from. This will give you a little more information about how the topic will be discussed.

  • Use the limiters on the right side of the screen to narrow the results by larger subject area
  • Or try searching for specific words inside the articles themselves; this is a quick way to narrow your results to relevant articles as well.

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search results and limiters off to the right

Browsing By Subject 

You can search by keyword in this database, but you can also search for any topic and find a list of articles related to a topic. Take a look at the search sample and notes below for more info.

Sample Search

From the page that opens when you open the database, select the "Subject Guide Search" option

  • Type in a topic or keyword here
  • Notice the results below connect you to a range of topics that are related to the words you've searched. This can be a great way to expand a topic to see how it has been discussed and was sub-areas of discussion might arise from it. It can help you to narrow in on your topic.

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Subject Guide search

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Subject search results showing related topics