Database of the Month: Opposing Viewpoints in Context

Opposing Viewpoints in Context is a database dedicated to providing an exploration of current (and often controversial) social issues from all different perspectives. On the homepage, users can view the five spotlighted issues from the rolling carousel, browse categories and issues from a list, construct a basic keyword or advanced search, examine featured videos & news, and interact with statistical information on a wide range of issues using maps. All issues are grouped by theme and include the following eight categories: Business and Economics, Health and Medicine, National Debate Topic, Society and Culture, Energy and Environmentalism, Law and Politics, Science, Technology and Ethics, and War and Diplomacy. Each issue and topic page includes:

• Overview essay to provide foundational background for understanding the topic
• Expert Picks resources deemed helpful for discovery and related content
• Videos, Images, and Audio streaming video, along with a large collection of images and audio, all from reputable research sources
• Viewpoints pro/con opinion articles to provide multiple perspectives for a particular issue
• Reference background information in the form of topic/event overviews and biographies
• News, Magazines, Academic Journals articles from more than 450 full-text English-language international sources
• Statistics both interactive and static graphs, tables, and charts to support the different pro/con arguments
• Primary Sources selections from transcripts of interviews, legislative acts, speeches and other sources
• Websites narrative text accompanying direct link to the sites

Learn More

A short Intro video is provided as an overview to the database. Brief videos on Searching and Topic Pages and Documents are handy for providing tips to getting the most out of this database! Another valuable library database for researching controversial social issues is CQ Researcher. Read our In the Know post on CQ Researcher to learn more.

Connect

Visit Opposing Viewpoints in Context to begin researching current social issues. You'll find this resource, along with CQ Researcher, available on the Databases A-Z page.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please Ask a Librarian. If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.