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Works that use research, evidence, and logic to advocate for one idea over another. Related to persuasive essays and distinct from informational essays.
Features of Argumentative Essays
- Takes an identifiable position on a question/issue/idea.
- Cites evidence (anecdotal, original, or referenced)
- Acknowledges and addresses alternate positions
- Relies on logic & evidence versus moral/emotional appeals
- Summary terms include: critiques, explains, contends, theorizes....
Find Argumentative Essays:
- Gale In Context: Opposing ViewpointsTopical browsing, popular and scholarly articles, and supporting documentation. Includes persuasive and argumentative essays. Full Text. NOTE: All topics include an informational background essay.
- Points of View Reference CenterFull text database designed to provide students and schools with a series of controversial essays that present multiple sides of a current issue, accompanied by supporting articles.
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowContains articles from scholarly journals, trade journals, and news sources. Covers all areas of business and management (including SWOT analyses, industry reports, market research reports, and more).
- ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) This link opens in a new windowIndexes books, journals, conference papers, research reports, curriculum studies, and policy documents on all aspects of schools and learning. ERIC has citations, abstracts, and many full-text public sources.
- Literature Criticism Online This link opens in a new windowContents include essays, articles, interviews, reviews, and excerpts from book chapters.
Also known as "Scholarly Articles," "Refereed Articles," or "Academic Articles." These sources are written and reviewed by scholars; this means the information is approved by other experts before publication.
Key Features of Journal Articles:
- Provide new research, analysis, or information about a specific topic
- The information is based on research and expertise
- Usually focused on a narrow subject or a single case study
- Intended for an academic audience
Find Journal Articles:
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowA favorite for the social sciences, humanities, fine arts, medicine, and education, ASP indexes 8,200 periodicals. Full-text articles from 3,750 peer-reviewed, scholarly journals are found here, plus a number of popular sources.
- PsycINFO This link opens in a new windowArticle citations and detailed abstracts of articles from over 2,000 journals published internationally in all areas of psychology from 1872 to the present. Links to full-text articles from PsycARTICLES and Academic Search Premier.
- ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) This link opens in a new windowA vast education resource center, ERIC indexes books, journals, conference papers, research reports, curriculum studies, and policy documents on all aspects of schools and learning. ERIC has citations, abstracts, and many full-text public sources.
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowBSC contains articles from scholarly journals, trade journals, and news sources. It covers all areas of business and management. In addition there are company profiles, SWOT analyses, industry reports, market research reports, and country reports.
Information written by reporters (AKA journalists) on topics of current interest.
Key Features of News Sources:
- Intended for a general audience; commonly written no higher than an 8th-grade reading level
- Reviewed by one or more editors for quality and accuracy
- Provide information on a recent event or topic of interest
- Provide the perspectives of average people, not experts
IMPORTANT NOTE: Not all news sources are created equal! Some have hidden (or obvious!) motives or political beliefs. Do some background research into who owns the news organization to learn more about it.
Find News Sources:
- Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new windowNewspaper Source Plus includes more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts and ongoing daily updates from popular news sources.
- Regional Business News This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles from 75 business news wires from around the globe. This database is updated daily.
- Gale OneFile News This link opens in a new windowIndexes the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and has full-text from USA Today.
- Colorado Historical Newspaper Collection This link opens in a new windowHere are articles from 160+ Colorado newspapers in digital form, dating 1859-1923 from 23 cities and 18 counties, courtesy of the Colorado Historical Society. Selected titles, including the camp newspapers of the 10th Mountain Division, have coverage after 1923.
Statistics provide an interpretation and summary of data. For argumentation, you may be particularly interested in statistics about communities, public opinion, or businesses. Data is the raw information.
Key Features of Statistics:
- Numbers that can answer questions that start "how many...?" or "how much...?"
- Result of data analysis
- Numbers that tell a story (unlike raw data, which is not yet interpreted)
Find Data & Statistics:
- ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) This link opens in a new windowA vast education resource center, ERIC indexes books, journals, conference papers, research reports, curriculum studies, and policy documents on all aspects of schools and learning. ERIC has citations, abstracts, and many full-text public sources.
- Historical Statistics of the U.S. This link opens in a new windowA source for the statistics of American history, Historical Stats arranges the data by population; work and welfare; economic structure and performance; economic sectors; and government and international relations.
- NatMed Pro This link opens in a new windowProvides graded and reliable evidence-based information on alternative and complementary treatments including herbal remedies, dietary supplements, natural products and integrative therapies.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new windowThe authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States. If you don't know the number of the tables you need, browse the index section to locate your subject and the corresponding table numbers. For access to pre-2013 statistics, visit the Census Bureau's archive.
In this box, please create at least 2 and no more than 5 tabs for different types of sources used by student researchers in this subject.
For each source, please include:
- A brief definition or description of essential information about the source
- Aim for 50 words in length and try to keep all tabs roughly equal
- An image of the source or which is relevant to the source
- Images should be set to 40% Width and Height, HSpace 8 and VSpace 5, Alignment set to "Right"
- Appropriate databases or other links in which to find the source type
- No more than 5 per source
- Limit descriptions to approximately 10-20 words; further details can be kept in the "More Info" area
Please see the currently published guides for examples! You can also copy text and images from the Suggested Source Descriptions page.
When you are finished, please delete this tab!