UMBC now has trial access to the databases Opposing Viewpoints in Context and Global Issues in Context.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context is the premier online resource covering today’s hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration. Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations and more.
Features include:
- 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
Global Issues in Context ties together sources to present a rich analysis of issues - social, political, military, economic, environmental, science related, health related, cultural - and headlines in world hot spots. It provides information seekers with a framework to better understand 21st-century issues and events while highlighting global connections and the interdependence of all nations.
Global Issues in Context focuses on broad issues, such as war, genocide, terrorism, human rights, poverty, famine, globalization, world trade, nuclear proliferation, and global warming, as well as more specific events and topics in the news that are related to these broader issues. It also includes detailed information on nations to provide a foundation for cross-cultural studies and, International periodicals and news sources that bring additional insight and currency.
Sources and media formats include:
- Overviews summarizing background information, historical context, and contemporary stances
- Expert perspectives analyzing an issue or event through multiple aspects
- Reference documents providing background information on all issues and nations
- Full-text international magazines, academic journals, and news sources
- Primary sources
- Statistics, including interactive graphs, tables, and charts
- Multimedia elements
- Links to Web sites, including government sites and organizations
Both trials run through April 6, 2013. Feedback on the usefulness of these databases is appreciated. Please contact Drew Alfgren at alfgren@umbc.edu, or leave us a comment to let us know what you think.