College Databases for Position Papers

The following databases contain detailed information on the history and current situation with many social and political issues.

CQ Researcher - has supplied Congress and government with reports and studies for over 90 years

Issues and Controversies

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center

Other good resources:

• SIRS Researcher
• Social Science Databases

General Research Tips

1. When doing research in any kind of Database or Search Engine look for and use:

Advanced Search

Full-Text


2. BEFORE you start create a list of the Elements of your topic.

Topic: (Drug abuse) among (high school students)


3. Next BEFORE you start create a list of "Similar Terms" to the elements of your topic

Example: teens = teenagers = youth = adolescents = high school students

4. TIP: journal = periodical = magazine (roughly speaking)

5. TIP: scholarly journal or article = peer-reviewed (roughly speaking)

6. Borrowers ID is your social security number and the PIN is the last four digits of the same.