Persuasive or argumentative research asks you to take one side of an issue and support this side by looking at the research, facts, and news about the topic. You will need to research both sides of the topic, and may be required to conduct interviews, surveys, observations, or experiments to gather data for your argument.
Start your argumentative research by selecting a topic and creating a clear and concise thesis.
Excellent series of books on controversial topics include:
Add the series name to your topic to see if there is a volume for you.
You can also add words like “controversial” “debates” “pro and con”, or “arguments” to your search.
Presents an array of perspectives on a wide range of topics using fully cited articles, essays, primary documents, biographies, statistics, court cases, profiles of government and special interest groups, websites, and podcasts. Topics cover politics, the environment, health care, education, energy, and much, much more.
Congressional Hearings are an excellent and sometimes overlooked resource for argumentative and position papers. When members of Congressional committees convene a hearing, they call expert witnesses from all sides of an issue. Witnesses testify regarding the issue, and they also must testify as to their credentials to demonstrate their experience and knowledge on the issue. In addition, the exact transcripts of the experts’ words are provided so they make an excellent source for quotes to reinforce your paper's position.
ProQuest Congressional is a database for congressional publications and legislative research that offers access to U.S. congressional documents from 1789 to the present. It supports research in public policy, historical, and legal areas, with insights into U.S. history and policy development.
Newspapers are a good source of information for papers and speeches. Find articles reporting on current events, and opinion articles on major issues.
Includes thousands of full text local, regional, national, and international newspapers, as well as newswires, blogs, and more. Includes The Denver Post.
In addition to America's News, there are some news databases that lend themselves to argumentative and persuasive assignments. These resources cover newspapers that may depart from the majority opinions found in the Washington Post, New York Times, or other "white bread" papers. For example, a topic like immigration might be covered very differently in an ethnic newspaper than in the Denver Post.
A complete guide to the diverse literature of the left, with an emphasis on political, economic, social and culturally engaged scholarship inside and outside academia. A secondary emphasis is on significant but little known sources of news and ideas. Covers over 250 periodical publications + many classic texts.
Full-text database of newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minoritized press. It includes historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-1989 and more than 2.5 million articles from over 340 publications.
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