Contemporary Issues Research Guide

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Note: Off-campus access to most online sources is restricted to current UCF students, faculty, and staff via Proxy connection

Contemporary issues are current, arguable topics, such as abortion, gambling, television violence, and affirmative action. In writing a paper on contemporary issues, you must examine both sides in order to make a well-informed argument. The sources listed below will assist you in locating background information, overviews, pro and con arguments, and other materials for the issue you select.

Books and Multimedia

http://library.ucf.edu

Use the online catalog to locate books and multimedia on your topic in the UCF Libraries. You can search by author, title, keyword, or subject.

• You can retrieve a list of books on various issues by searching the following series titles in the Catalog. Look at the call number of each individual title to determine location:

• You can also try a KEYWORD search using two or three of the most significant words from the title or subject you are trying to find. Think of the relationship of the keywords. Words that must be together, for example, are linked with AND. When either word can appear, link the words with OR. For example:

(drug abuse OR designer drugs) AND (colleges OR universities)

• To search a phrase by KEYWORD, link the words in the phrase with ADJ (which stands for "adjacent" or "next to"). For example:

drug ADJ abuse AND poverty

• To limit by FORMAT in order to find multimedia and scores, go to the Advanced Search in the Library Catalog and use the Limit Search By option.

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Periodical Articles

Use the following sources to find periodical articles about your topic. Once you have found the articles you want, in some instances you will need to check the UCF Library Catalog to determine if we own the periodicals you need.

For Online Databases:

For Printed Indexes:

Academic Search Premier (1975+)

Database that abstracts and indexes over 3,200 periodicals (magazines, journals, newspapers), and offers full text (often dating back to 1990) for over 1,000 journals.

Alternative Press Index

Online version (1991+)
Index AI 3 .A27 (1969+)

A comprehensive guide to alternative sources of information, as it indexes nearly 300 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines. Coverage is international and interdisciplinary.

Article First (1990+)

Provides indexed and abstracted references, many with accompanying full-text periodical articles, from about 12,000 journals.

Ethnic Newswatch (1990+)

Contains articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press. Database is in both English and Spanish.

Expanded Academic ASAP (1980+)

Indexes over 4,000 periodical titles in a wide variety of disciplines including the social sciences, humanities, science and technology, national news periodicals, general interest magazines, and newswires. Includes many full-text articles.

GenderWatch (1970+)

Focuses on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas. Supports programs in various social science subject areas. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books, pamphlets, conference proceedings, and government reports.

LexisNexis Academic (coverage varies)

An excellent source for full-text newspapers, press releases, and television and radio broadcast transcripts.

Orlando Sentinel (1985+)

Complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded.

Readers' Guide Full Text (1983+)

Indexes and abstracts articles in over 300 English-language periodicals covering a wide variety of fields. Preceded by the print index Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (1901+).

Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature

Index AI 3 .R48 (1901+)

Indexes articles primarily by topic in over 300 English-language periodicals covering a wide variety of fields. Continued by the electronic database Readers' Guide Full Text (1983+).

WilsonWeb [also known as OmniFile] (coverage varies)

Provides indexed and abstracted references, many with accompanying full-text periodical articles, from about 1,400 English-language periodicals in science, humanities, education, and business.

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Key Periodicals

A perusal of the following periodicals is one good way of determining "hot" contemporary issues and in helping you select a topic. Please note, however, that many other periodicals not listed here undoubtedly contain articles pertaining to your topic; thus, the need to consult a periodical database or index. Current print issues of periodicals to which the Libraries subscribe are arranged by title on the third floor; print back issues are shelved in the general collection by call number, while microform back issues are arranged by call number on the third floor. Current issues are arranged alphabetically by title on the third floor.

Periodicals that present a variety of viewpoints

America Online version (1992+) Microfilm BX 801 .A5 (1909-50; 1979+) General Collection BX 801 .A5 (1951-1978) CQ Researcher Online version (1991+) General Collection H 35 .E352 (1991+) Congressional Digest Online version (1921+) Microfilm JK 1 .C65 (1922-1966) General Collection JK 1 .C65 (1964+) CQ Online version (1923+) Microfilm JK 1 .C15 (1956-1967) General Collection JK 1 .C15 (1968-June 1994) Microfiche JK 1 .C15 (1994+)

Foreign Affairs Online version (1964+) General Collection D 839 .M6 (1922/23+) Foreign Policy Online version (1970+ except last 3 years) Online version (1990+) General Collection E 744 .F75 (1970/71+) New Leader Online version (1992+) Online version (1994+) General Collection HX 1 .N37 (1973+)

Journals of opinion -- "Liberal" or "Leftist"

Dissent Online version (1995+) Online version (2001+) Microfilm HX 1 .D58 (1954-1968) General Collection HX 1 .D58 (1969-2007) Monthly Review Online version (1994+) General Collection HX 1 .M66 (1949-2007) Mother Jones Online version (1985 + indexed; 1990+) General Collection AP 2 .M794 (1976; 2003-2006) Microfilm AP 2 .M794 (1977+) The Nation Online version (1895+ indexed; 1975+) Microfilm AP 2 .N2 (1865-1987) Microfiche AP 2 .N2 (1988+)

New Left Review General Collection HX 3 .N36 (1988+) New Republic Online version (1955+ indexed; 1990+) Microfilm AP 2 .N624 (1914-July 1916) General Collection AP 2 .N624 (1915-1986; 2004-2007) Microfiche AP 2 .N624 (1987+) New Statesman Online version (1991+ indexed; 1995+) General Collection AP 4 .N72 (1988-91) Microfilm AP 4 .N72 (1992) The Progressive Online version (1990+) Microfilm AP 2 .P8655 (1955-1974; 1990; 1991-1993) General Collection AP 2 .P8655 (1975-2007)

Journals of opinion -- "Conservative" or "Rightist"

Commentary Online version (1990+) Online version (1992+) General Collection DS 101 .C63 (1945-2007) The Economist Online version (1988+) Online version (1990+) Microfilm HG 11 .E2 (1843-92) General Collection HG 11 .E2 (1893-1986; 2004-2007) Microfiche HG 11 .E2 (1986-2003) Human Events Online version (1994+) Microfilm D 410 .H8 (1986+)

National Review Online version (1975+) Online version (1994-2005) Microfilm AP 2 .N3545 (1955-87) Microfiche AP 2 .N3545 (1988+) Policy Review Online version (1990+) Online version (1994+) Microfilm H 1 .P69 (1977/78-1985/86) General Collection H 1 .P69 (1986/87-2006) Public Interest Online version (1990-2005) Online version (1994-2005) General Collection H 1 .P86 (1965-1970) Microfilm H 1 .P86 (1971-73) General Collection H 1 .P86 (1974-2005)

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Public Opinion

Public opinion polls can be used to document the mentality or psychology of a time, or of a group (evidence of a world view, a set of attitudes, or the popular understanding of an event or condition).  Poll results can be used to bolster an argument or to refute a popular view.

American Demographics

Online version (1986-2004)
Online version (1992-2004)
General Collection HB 3505 .A66 (1985-91)
Microfilm HB 3505 .A66 (1992-2004)

Part of Advertising Age of February 2005. A monthly magazine for marketing and media that provides "an analysis of trends, issues, and events that are shaping...consumer markets" (publisher's note).

The Gallup Organization

http://www.gallup.com

The Internet site of The Gallup Organization, which publishes The Gallup Poll and The Gallup Poll Monthly (below). Features the latest in-depth poll analyses and replicas of news stories and press releases linked to the surveys.

The Gallup Poll

Reference HN 90 .P8 G35 (1935-78, 1981+)

Presents surveys based on interviews with United States residents. An index, The Gallup Poll Cumulative Index: Public Opinion, 1935-1997 (Reference HN 90 .P8 G29 1999) is a guide to published surveys from 1935 to 1997.

The Gallup Poll Monthly

General Collection HM 261 .A1 G34 (1972-2001)

Monthly presentation of interesting public opinion findings.

Index to International Public Opinion

Reference HM 261 .I552 (1978/79- 1998/99)

In two main sections: single nation surveys (arranged by topic and then country), and multinational surveys (divided by geographic area). Each entry lists date and organization responsible for conducting the survey, the sample size, questions and responses (usually in percentages). Indexed by topic, by countries and regions surveyed, and by countries and regions referenced in the surveys.

Pew Research Center for People and the Press

http://people-press.org

An independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics, and public policy issues. The data achieve contains numerous public surveys conducted since 1997. 

PollingReport.com

http://www.pollingreport.com

A commercial site that purports to provide "an independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion." It lists all recent polls from various sources and compares polls historically.

Public Opinion Quarterly

Online version (1965+)
Online version (1937+ except last 5 years)
General Collection HM 261.A1 P8 (1937-2007)

The official journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research includes comprehensive and diverse coverage on such issues as political tolerance, holocaust denial, public policy, race and the police, political rhetoric and persuasion, and affirmative action.

The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu

The site of one of the nation's leading non-profit, non-partisan public opinion data archives. Includes links to the magazine, Public Perspective, which has a number of articles available online.

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Statistics

Your argument may need statistics for emphasis and to help make your case. The following sources are good starting points.

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Internet Sources

The following sites contain information on contemporary issues. Sometimes both sides are presented and sometimes only one side is emphasized.

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Style Manuals and Citation Management Tools

The style manuals listed below offer assistance with the mechanics of paper presentation, such as preparing bibliographies, footnoting, underlining, and using quotation marks. The three major citation styles are MLA, APA, and Turabian/Chicago; check with your instructor as to which citation style you should use. In addition to the sources cited below, online versions with examples are available at http://www.library.ucf.edu/Ask/Citation.htm; the UCF Libraries also provide several citation management tools that  can be downloaded at http://library.ucf.edu/Databases/CitationManagement/Default.htm.

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Ask a Librarian

If you have questions or need additional assistance, Ask a Librarian, call the Reference Department at (407) 823-2562, or e-mail the Department at askalibrarian@mail.ucf.edu.

Last Updated: July 28, 2008

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