Opposing Viewpoints

The databases are the best place to start looking for articles, for many reasons:

They have more stuff: 

• You can't find everything on the Web with a Google search. Many scholarly articles and publications are not available for free online, and can only be accessed through subscription databases like the ones we offer at SanJac.

They're reliable:

• Using websites for research can be risky if you don't thoroughly evaluate web sources for accuracy, substance, authority, currency, and other considerations. When you use sources from the databases for your research, you can be confident you are using vetted, scholarly sources.

They make it easy to limit your results:

• The database makes it easy to limit your results to articles that fit your assignment criteria, such as articles from a journal, or articles less than two years' old. Use the Limit Your Results tab in this guide for tips.

They're free:

• If you search for articles using Google or Yahoo, you may be asked to pay for the full text of an article. You will never be charged for an article in the library databases. Even if you find an article that we don't have full-text access to through the databases, the librarians can always order it for you - free of charge - through interlibrary loan.

They have great features:

• The databases have student-friendly features that websites don't have, like citation formatting, free account and folder features, search alerts, and email features. For more information on these features, check out the "Working with Your Results" tab in this guide. 

They're convenient:

• Search the databases 24 hours a day from wherever you have Internet access.

There are a couple of different ways you can use Opposing Viewpoints to choose a topic.

1. If you don't have an idea of what you want to write about or speak on, then the Browse Issues button is for you. Clicking on Browse Issues will bring up an alphabetical list of broad topics covered by the database.

When you choose a topic this way, you'll see a webpage with lots of resources collected devoted to that topic. You can look at the resources according to the type (magazines, academic journals, etc.), or you can click on the 'Search within page' box on the right to type in a more specific keyword to your topic.

2. If the topic you want isn't listed under Browse Issues, use the search box on the main screen to see if there's a topic page for an issue you're interested in. You can type in a search phrase, and the database will suggest some other terms. Click on any of those, or just hit "Search" to see what is available on the topic you typed in.

When you search the Opposing Viewpoints database, one of the first things you'll see come up in your search results are Featured Viewpoints and Viewpoints:

So what is a Viewpoints essay, and how is it different from other things you'll find in this database?

Viewpoints essays argue about a topic from a clear standpoint or side of the issue. Usually you'll find two of them relating the same issue, but arguing from two different points of view. In this way, the purpose of Viewpoints are to give a balanced perspective to controversial topics:

So if you're writing a persuasive/argument paper, you could use one Viewpoint essay to provide support for your side of the argument, and the counterpoint Viewpoint essay for ideas on refuting opposing arguments.

Viewpoints essays are not periodicals like magazine, newspaper, or journal articles that are published regularly for a general or scholarly audience.

Viewpoints essays are written or compiled by the staff at Gale, the company that publishes the book series and the database. Sometimes they are reprints of articles or reports:

Viewpoints in the database are the same as chapters you'd find in the Opposing Viewpoints book series. We have nearly 500 of them across all three libraries, so you may have run across them before. If you find a book in our library catalog that's part of the Opposing Viewpoints series, and the book is checked out or missing, you could try to find the same content in the database. 

If you are using the Opposing Viewpoints database in order to look for Viewpoints essays only, there's an easy way to narrow your search. At the searchbox at the top right of the homepage, click on "Viewpoints" instead of "All," and enter your search terms:

Now your search results will only be Viewpoints essays (not any of the other types of sources you can find in this database). If you have too many, use the limiting options on the left to make your search results more specific to your topic:

A word of caution: some professors think Viewpoints are OK to use as sources for research papers, and some professors do not. Always check your assignment and with your professor to make sure you know what sources will be accepted for your own research paper.