John Stossel's Both Sides of the Issue
- John Stossel's Both Sides of the IssueWelcome to our Both Sides of the Issue Series! We created this series to help teachers present balanced lessons on topics that John Stossel addresses. Each month, we pair two of John’s videos with videos representing opposing arguments. Our goal is to provide teachers and students with different viewpoints and encourage open discussion and critical thinking. Every Both Sides of the Issue pairing includes discussion questions, so it’s never been easier to get the conversation started. Special Note: We are aware that on many issues, there are many sides, not just two. We call it “Both Sides” for simplicity and to spark discourse. Help develop critical skills by exploring additional sides in your discussions.
When You Need a Research Topic
Having Trouble Deciding What to Write About?
Try these library databases and online news sites for possible research topics:
- Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new windowProvides peer-reviewed, full-text, scholarly content across all academic disciplines.
- Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowA broad, interdisciplinary database that covers a wide range of subjects. It includes a mix of scholarly articles, popular publications, and newspaper coverage. It’s an excellent starting point for the kind of research you will need to do in college courses.
- College (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new windowGale In Context: College offers interdisciplinary content that reinforces the development of skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation. Learners can access news content including full-text newspapers and periodicals like The Economist, The New York Times, National Geographic, Newsweek, Popular Science, Smithsonian, and more. Empower learning with hundreds of thousands of images, videos, and audio selections that include archival film clips, broadcast video, BBC News, New York Times video, and NPR.
- CQ Researcher (Sage) This link opens in a new windowCheck the homepage for timely topics. Select "Browse Topics" to search for topics by subject interest. Congressional Quarterly provides in-depth unbiased reports of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy.
- Global Issues (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new windowSelect "Browse Issues" to see a list of current popular topics. - international approach to news and current issues from multiple international sources. Includes news, viewpoints, background and country information, videos, statistics, biographies, podcasts, and links to relevant websites.
- Opposing Viewpoints (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new windowSelect "Browse Issues" to see a list of current popular topics. This database brings together academic articles, audio, videos, opinion essays and primary sources about contemporary controversies and hot topics. Whether you need a balanced view or support for your position, Opposing Viewpoints is the first place to go when you're researching a controversial or contentious issue. It's also a great place to find or narrow a topic.
- Google NewsComprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world. See topics that are currently being discussed.
- The New York Times OnlineAll PVCC students, faculty and staff now have full complimentary access to NYTimes.com and NYT mobile apps, thanks to the PVCC Buxton library college-wide subscription.We encourage you to take advantage of the world-class journalism of The New York Times to enrich your educational experience.
- Reuters Top NewsTop and breaking news, pictures, and videos from around the world.
Read Background Information
Read an encyclopedia article on the top two or three topics your are considering. Reading a broad summary gives you an overview of the topic and shows how your idea relates to broader, narrower, and related issues..
- Credo Reference: Academic Core (Infobase) This link opens in a new windowCredo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, business, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.
- Gale EBooks (Gale) This link opens in a new windowAcademic reference sources on a variety of topics. A great place to get background information.Provides access to popular Gale specialized encyclopedias and resources in arts, biography, business, education, environment, history, science, social science and more.
Answer the Public: A source for developing your thesis statement or research question.
- Answer the PublicThere are 3 billion Google searches every day, and 20% of those have never been seen before. They’re like a direct line to your customers’ thoughts Sometimes that’s ‘How do I remove paper jam’. Other times it’s the wrenching fears and secret hankerings they’d only ever dare share with Google.
