Renamed and Improved Database for “Hot Topics”

Campus Community Update #258

November 12, 2010
 

Renamed and Improved Database for “Hot Topics”

  • Carbon offsets
  • Genetically modified foods
  • Texting while driving

Students come to the library seeking the latest and best information on topical issues like these. And often the source they rely upon is the online Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center from Gale/Cengage. It delivers a wide variety of content (journal articles, statistics, primary sources, web links, and reference book excerpts) and provides extra tools to help users organize and document their research papers and presentations.

Recently, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center became Opposing Viewpoints in Context and with this title change came some welcome new features. In addition to a cleaner more image-rich interface, the database now provides:

  • More than 14,000 pro/con viewpoint essays
  • 5,000+ topic overviews
  • More than 300 primary source documents
  • 300 biographies of social activists and reformers
  • More than 775 court-case overviews
  • 5 million periodical articles
  • Nearly 6,000 statistical tables, charts and graphs
  • Nearly 70,000 images and a link to Google Image Search
  • Thousands of podcasts, including weekly presidential addresses and premier NPR programs
  • A national and state curriculum standards search, correlated to the content that allows educators to quickly identify material by grade and discipline

Sample some provocative Opposing Viewpoints in Context through your library’s website (use is restricted to the CSULB campus community). Click next on “Databases by Title” and select “Opposing Viewpoints in Context” from the menu.