Subject Guides

Hot Research Topics & Controversial Issues

Research issues in the news, policy topics, and debate style topics.

BACKGROUND & REFERENCE

CQ Researcher
In-depth analysis of the most current major and controversial issues of the day.
CQ Researcher is useful for research on major controversial topics of national and international scope. Each issue that is examined includes a 125-word summary, introduction to the issue, history of the issue, recent events surrounding the issue, where the issue is headed, issue timeline, statements from representatives of opposing positions, works cited, readings for further research, organizations concerned, and notes on sources. Users may browse through articles in the current issue or search for past articles using words, dates or other criteria.

Encyclopedia of Bioethics
Provides ethical arguments on a variety of current topics, ranging from abortion to euthanasia.
NewsBank Hot Topics
A list of the current newsworthy topics and tips on how to search for related articles.
United Nations - Global Issues
Offers overviews and insights into the most pressing issues on the UNs' agenda.

CQ Magazine
Offers full coverage of the U.S. Congress: status of bills, votes and amendments, floor and committee activity, and backroom maneuvering.
Produced by the largest news team on Capitol Hill. Search by keyword, topic, page number, committee, bill number, byline, and date. Archive includes detailed floor votes dating back to 1983. CQ Weekly is useful for accessing current news and analysis on Congress and major public policy issues. It is also useful for tracking votes and legislation in Congress, locating recent Congressional documents and related material in full text, and learning more about members of Congress and the legislative process. Coverage: 1983-present.

RESEARCHING PROS & CONS

Points of View Reference Source
Essays that present multiple sides of a current issue.
Essays provide questions and materials for further thought and study and are accompanied by thousands of supporting articles from the world's top political and societal publications. The database provides 250+ topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point, counterpoint, and Critical Thinking Guide.
Opposing Viewpoints
Includes viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.
Made available by the NOVELNY program, which makes resources available to everyone in NYS. For NYS residents outside of NYS, please see the website for more detail. For links to all NOVELNY databases, please see the NOVELNY webpage.

LOCATING EDITORIALS & COMMENTARY

Many article databases will allow you to just search just the editorial/commentary sections. For example:

In Academic Search Complete use the "Document Type" field to limit to Editorials.
In the Proquest Newsstand databases, use the "Document Type" field to search for Commentary.

Check database Help screens for more information.

Also see Political Perspectives in Periodicals to help determine what stance (liberal, conservative, etc.) many popular periodicals often take.