Opposing Viewpoints in Context

Gale, (2012).Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Ontario, Canada: Gale. Retrieved from: http://www.gale.cengage.com/InContext/viewpoints.htm

Annotation

Opposing Viewpoints in Context is a database tailored to the special research needs of young adults. Covering society’s hottest topics Opposing Viewpoints is your go to source for information for all your homework needs: research papers, expository essays, preparation for current event discussions and debates, and more.  Opposing Viewpoints boasts over

14,000 pro/con essays, 5,000 topic overviews… 300 primary source documents, 300 biographies of social activists and reformers… 775 court-case overviews, 5 million periodicals… 6000 statistical tables… 70,000 images… thousands of podcasts… and national and state curriculum standards

Critical Evaluation

Opposing Viewpoints is laid out nicely and easy to navigate. Once you log in through your library’s portal you can use the basic search option to do a quick search on the topic that you’re interested in. There are also options to browse popular issues, view data maps, and search by resource (viewpoints, academic journals, primary sources, statistics, image, video, audio, news, magazines, reference website, etc). Within the advanced search options users can use boolean search terms, narrow results by peer reviewed and full text, publication date, document type and so on. The database has clean lines and is easy to navigate. There are no extraneous buttons or search options hanging about to confuse anyone. It is an excellent choice for beginning researchers, or those without a lot of experience using databases.

Curriculum Ties

Supports grade 9 and 10 reading comprehension curriculum:

2.2 Prepare a bibliography of reference materials for a report using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents.

2.5 Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation, and elaboration.

Supports grade 11 and 12 reading comprehension curriculum:

2.1 Analyze both the features and the rhetorical devices of different types of public docu-ments (e.g., policy statements, speeches, debates, platforms) and the way in which authors use those features and devices.

2.3 Verify and clarify facts presented in other types of expository texts by using a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents.

Reading Level/Interest Age 

13+

Reason for inclusion

Important database for student research.