1. Background Information
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Find entries from 100+ subject encyclopedias.
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, 1980-present
Find differing points of view on current social issues.
CQ Researcher, 1991 - present
Track controversies in the news, written by journalists and experts.
CRS Reports found in LexisNexis Congressional, 2004-Present
The Congressional Research Service, a division of the Library of Congress, provides reports to members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. If you're researching a current controversy, these reports provide useful background information related to the topic. These reports can be searched in LexisNexis Congressional or by searching Google for your topic and crs report. The reports are often posted by members of Congress on their websites and by other organizations related to the issue, but they are not collected in one location online available to the public.
2. Finding Articles
How to Find Opinions, Editorials & Opposing Viewpoints
This guide has suggested databases, research tips and a list of liberal and conservative magazines which can be found in the library. You can send your students directly to this guide or use it in class.
LexisNexis Academic, dates of coverage vary
Find local, state, national and international newspaper articles. Full-text.
Academic Search Complete, 1990-present
Find scholarly, popular and some newspaper articles from across disciplines.
Academic OneFile, 1980-present
Find scholarly, popular and some newspaper articles from across disciplines.
InfoTrac Newspapers, dates of coverage vary
Find articles from over 100 newspapers, including local papers like the Austin-American Stateman and the Houston Chronicle.
Library PressDisplay, 60-day archive
View full-page images from the last 60 days of over 300 titles from the national and international press. A useful tool for demonstrating the difference between viewpoint articles found in the Editorials section and informative articles from the Front Page.
Factiva, dates of coverage vary
Find newspaper articles from top national and international newspapers (including full text of the Wall Street Journal), newswires, business journals, market research reports, analysts reports and websites.
3. Books
Library Catalog
Searches the collections in all campus libraries.
4. Information about Local Issues
How To Find Information about Local Issues
A guide and list of resources for finding current information, including local and state news, statistics for Austin and other major Texas cities, University of Texas statistics and Texas statistics and information.
5. Finding Radio and Television News
Finding News and Television Transcripts in LexisNexis
Use LexisNexis to find transcripts of television and radio shows.
Finding News Transcripts and Audio Files in Academic OneFile
Academic OneFile contains the transcripts to National Public Radio (NPR) broadcasts from as late as 1990. Most older results include only the transcript, while newer results (2006-) include the transcript AND the link to the audio file. This is a great way to search NPR holdings and to circumvent buying an NPR transcript!
Vanderbilt Television News Archive
Provides a searchable archive of abstracts of news broadcasts from 1968 to present (ABC, CBS, NBC), 1995 to present (CNN), and selected content from PBS and FOX News. Digitized news broadcasts and special news-related programming from CNN are viewable with the RealOne media player. Also includes ABC's Nightline since 1989.
6. Find Speeches
Finding Speeches
The guide provides sources for finding historical and contemporary speeches. Includes Vital Speeches of the Day, a monthly publication of important public speeches and addresses from prominent figures, which can be found in Academic Search Complete
7. Images/Visual Resources
8. Political Cartoons
ProQuest Newspapers
A guide for finding political cartoons in the current and historical ProQuest Newspapers databases.
Library PressDisplay
Find political cartoons published during the last 60 days in over 300 titles from the national and international press. Select Editorial & More to browse the editorial and opinion sections of many newspapers. Choose Advanced Search to search for your topic. Enter your keywords and use the phrase political cartoon as a search term. Limit your search to newspapers published in the USA and to English language newspapers.
Newspapers
Local, national and international newspapers and news sources. And links to other newspaper collections online. Select Search News to search single or multiple news sources, or select individual newspapers to search their websites. Most political cartoons appear in the Editorial or Opinion section of newspapers.
Google Image Search and Google News
Enter your keywords and use the phrase political cartoon as a search term. If Google Image Search yields older results, narrow down the search by entering the year you're interested in finding images from.
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
Search for political cartoons on your topic or browse recently published cartoons on current topics from many national and local newspapers.
9. Determining and Evaluating Context/Media Kits
- To see a newspaper article within the context of the publication, use Library Press Display or ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Both of these provide images of the page so that students can see where in the paper it appeared (front page, below the fold, etc.) and what stories surround it.
- To determine how stories are covered from one newspaper to another, use Factiva (limited to 12 simultaneous users). For example, students can see an article published in the Wall Street Journal and find other articles on the same topic published in other newspapers that same day.
- To evaluate a publication to determine slant, reach and demographics, try the following sources:
- Standard Rate & Data Services (SRDS) Publications: Search this database to find circulation statistics and a link to the media kit (from the publication's web site) which includes readership demographics.
- Ulrich's Periodical Directory Online: Search this database for the title of the publication. Records usually include a description of the publication and may also include a "Reviews" tab which provides further insight into the purpose of the publication.
- To better understand the context of a website within the larger web, use link: before a URL in a Google search to find out who is linking to that site. This can reveal useful connections between organizations, commentary on the site being made by another site, and other relationships that provide additional context for the website.
- Example: link:http://www.lib.utexas.edu provides you with a list of other websites that are linking to the Libraries site.
- You will get different results depending on whether you include the "http://" at the beginning of the URL.
- The results may not be a complete picture of all linking sites. It will only include those pages indexed by Google.
10. Scholarly Articles
Multidisciplinary Databases
Academic Search Complete and
Academic OneFile are multidisciplinary databases that contain both scholarly and popular articles. You can limit your search results to scholarly articles in both databases.
Subject Specific Databases
UT Libraries also subscribes to many subject specific databases. These databases provide useful articles and information for specialized research within an academic discipline. Depending on your research topic, it may be appropriate to search in a subject specific database for sources. Many subject specific databases will contain more scholarly sources.
- Select the subject that best matches your research topic to view a list of databases for that subject
- To learn more about a specific database, click on the About link next to its listing
These subject specific databases may be helpful for controversy topics related to In Defense of Food:
Health & Wellness Resource Center, most current edition
Find magazine and journal articles on issues of health and wellness, and fact sheets with background information.
AGRICOLA, 1970-present
Search a broad range of agricultural research, including animal and human nutrition, plant science, and USDA documents.
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health), 1937-present
Search literature related to nursing and allied health disciplines, including public health and nutrition publications.
America: History and Life, 1964-present
Search social science and humanities literature on all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture and current affairs.
Alt HealthWatch, 1990-present
Find perspectives of complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness.
11. Books
Library Catalog
Searches the collections in all campus libraries.
12. Public Opinion
Find Public Opinion (Polls and Surveys)
A guide to polls and surveys available in library databases and on the web.
13. Statistics
Find Statistics
A guide to finding statistics on the web, including a custom Google search box that searches .org and .gov sites, as well as several government statistics websites.
14. Research Help and Citing Sources
Noodlebib
Web-based software to create and format MLA-formatted bibliographies.
Ask a Librarian
Students can Instant Message (IM), email, call or visit a librarian for research help.
