English 102 Researching Issues

To find issues, search for articles in publications like these, & see if we own the publication in our databases here.
 

National Review,

Wall Street Journal,

The Atlantic,

The New York Times,  

Reason, 

Psychology Today 

The Economist 

For Christian perspectives and issues, try these:

First Things,

Christianity Today,

Relevant,

The Gospel Coalition, 

Christ & Pop Culture,

US Council of Catholic Bishops Issues Statements

For ethical and family-related issues, try:

Discovery Institute

Heritage Foundation

Family Research Council

Ethics & Public Policy Center

Focus on the Family

For education issues, try:

James G. Martin Center for Educational Renewal, 

Fordham Institute, 

Chalkboard Review,

The Grade, 

Chronicle of Higher Education,

Sold a Story (Science of Reading),

Inside Classical Education

Education Week

Hechinger Report

History & The Arts
Smithsonian Magazine

The Rest is History

The Imaginative Conservative

Christianity Today Book Reviews

The New Criterion Book & Culture Reviews

The Times Literary Supplement

For political & cultural issues, try these influential think tanks:

Manhattan Institute (Conservative) and City Journal

AEI --see "Centers" (Conservative/libertarian)

Cato (Libertarian)

Pew Society (Non-partisan)

Brookings (Non-partisan/liberal)

Hoover Institution (Conservative/libertarian)

Be aware that each organization has a certain worldview or political goal and also that Google boosts certain sites. To find articles from a certain point-of-view, try Googling your topic plus the name of a publication. If you run into a paywall, use the Journal Search to see if we own the publication, or see this guide to finding newspaper and magazine articles in the online library collection. Don't pay for an article!

Here is a list of more influential Think Tanks. Also try non-profits like political advocacy groups, churches/denominations, universities, museums, and public archives. Here is our library page on think tanks & policy organizations. 

Check the political leanings of a think tank or publication at All Sides bias checker. Also, look for sixteen indicators of bias.

Databases for Finding a Topic & Pro-Con Articles
 

Example: Narrowing down a history topic:  Look at issues such as:

• right or wrong, ethical, & value questions, like "was it right to drop the atomic bombs and/or to bomb German cities?" 
• debatable issues with more than one side, like "was the invention of trains or another technology good for society?"
• questions people wonder about, like "how did Hitler use propaganda and rhetoric to control or brainwash the German people?"
• or, "how did Americans win the Revolution against the bigger British army?" or "why was the Revolution fought and was it justified?"
• or, "what were Lincoln's views on slavery?" or "how did Christian beliefs motivate abolitionists to fight slavery?"
• any question of cause (how did one thing cause another or effect something else) like "why did we fight in Vietnam?"
• or policy/law/court decisions, like "how did the Supreme Court uphold segregation and then overturn it?" or "how did military strategy change with the invention of modern weapons during the Civil War or World War I or World War II?"

You usually want to find both primary sources (historical documents) and secondary sources (books and articles about history).

Narrowing Down a Current Topic Like Gun Control (example): Brainstorm different angles on the topic such as....

• Whether current laws are being enforced, especially in cities where there are a lot of gun possession crimes (and people caught possessing illegally are more likely to commit murder later on, so strictly enforcing possession laws could prevent murder)

• whether having these laws keeps law-abiding citizens from getting them and exercising their right to self-defense/2nd amendment rights

• whether gun-free zones are "sitting ducks" for shooters

• whether certain gun laws would prevent a certain kind of gun homicide (such as mass shootings, school shootings, suicide, accident, murder, gang violence, drive by shootings, domestic violence). What kinds of guns are used in a certain kind of crime?  Would banning a certain gun like AR-15s or gear like bump stocks help?  

• whether the 2^nd amendment phrase "shall not be abridged" means there should be no gun laws at all—or what the 2^nd amendment should be interpreted to mean (can look at relevant Supreme Court cases like DC vs. Heller, which said it protects individual right to bear arms)

• whether gun laws have prevented or reduced crime (which is harder to measure as there are other variables involved).  Some compare the USA to a country with restrictions on guns, like the UK or Australia, but because we have a 2^nd amendment, we will probably never go that route, and the UK has other kinds of violence, like knife and acid attacks.

• whether guns should be allowed or not allowed in a certain place, like a college campus, a K-12 school, military bases, malls/stores (or all of these places, so a "good guy with a gun" could stop a shooter immediately)

• whether people should be allowed to own powerful guns that anti-gun people call "weapons of war" or "assault rifles"

• whether the current background check system is working or whether bad guys can find loopholes to get guns (see for example Dylann Roof and the Texas church shooter, who both had previous crimes on their records before they bought guns)

• History of "the right to bear arms" or the concept of guns as an equalizer, giving power to vulnerable groups or weaker people like women and minorities or those living in high-crime areas

• Whether guns are needed to fight government tyranny, like in the American Revolution

• Concealed carry and open carry controversies

• Red flag mental health law controversies

• Groups with limited gun rights like felons, etc.; does this restriction work to keep guns from violent people?  Should it be expanded or reduced?  

• Domestic violence and guns (is there a way to restrict abusers from buying guns or helping abused get them, are guns used in domestic attacks,etc.)

Google Scholar is powerful & can be used to search for academic articles & books. Google Books gives book previews. 

Google Scholar should give you links to our library's articles in the right margin of your search! We recommend that you link Google Scholar to our library to see links.  You may also want the Google Scholar Button browser tool.

How to link Google Scholar to Regent Library:  

• Go to Google Scholar
• Open the three-bar menu in the upper left 
• Click "Settings" in the drop-down menu
• Click "Library Links" 
• Search for 'regent university'
• Select the Regent University boxes
• Click "Save" 
   

When you are searching:

• Search for your key words, titles, or authors. Try different combinations.
• Google automatically looks for synonyms & other spellings.
• When you find an article that's in our collection, it will have a link to the article in the right margin 
• You can also try clicking the title of the source to see if it is on the web somewhere, or previewed on Google Books
• For books or articles that don't give a link, you will need to copy the title into Primo to see if we have them or to request them
   

Tips for Using Google Scholar (Special Operators)

• use limits for date of publication if needed
• note that it will tell you the impact of each article (how much it's been cited)
• try enclosing key phrases in quotation marks to zero in on them, like "first amendment" or "attachment theory"
• try synonyms & similar terms; use the word OR between them, like college OR university 
• use the minus symbol to exclude unrelated words, like Abraham -Lincoln (if you want Abraham from the Bible)
• use the word AROUND to indicate words should be near each other in the results, like Covid AROUND lockdown
• Use an asterisk star * to take the place of missing or unknown words in a phrase
• Try Search site: thenyourkeywords (no spaces)--if looking for a website title.
• Try Search intext: then key words--if looking for it in the text of the website, not the title.
• You do not need to use AND or parentheses with Google
• Also, note that even if you don't use OR, it will treat the various terms as options--you can enter a lot of terms
• You don't need to use an asterisk at the end of a word to bring up different word endings as Google does that already
  
  Great Uses for Google: You can find background information or basic terminology on your topic through regular Google, as well as religious websites, free archives, classic e-books, newspaper & magazine articles, think tanks, open-access journals, and government sources. Remember to use discernment as not everything is credible.

⁷  Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

⁸ Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. (Proverbs 4)

The librarians have made many short videos, which are posted on our YouTube channel, that explain the best ways to use our tools.