LibGuides: TC 302: Relativism / Slotta: Choose and develop a topic through research

What to think about when choosing a topic

Choose a conflict - something people are arguing about. To do this, you need to do research.
Identify stakeholders - who cares?
- Who is impacted by this conflict?
- Who is arguing about solutions? What expertise do they have?
What voices or perspectives are missing?
Use encyclopedias and news sources to gather keywords and important events or individuals you want to research in depth

News sources - in and out of the US

Al-Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East This link opens in a new window
Most current edition. Unlimited users.
Updated daily. A new media site that provides access to newspaper articles from independent media partners throughout the Arab World, including Turkey, Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq. Each day, editors translate Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish reporting and commentary on politics and religion, business and economics, society and culture, and the arts and sports. The service has an international editorial board and also provides original reporting and commentary.
Beijing Review 北京周報 This link opens in a new window
This database covers to 2007. For current coverage, try: http://www.bjreview.com.cn/
China’s only English national news magazine, an important tool enabling the Chinese government to communicate to the rest of the world. Began in 1958 and is still in publication. Its English title was Peking review (1958-1978) and changed to Beijing Review (1979-present). This database provides access to its 1958-2007 contents. For online current issues, see http://www.bjreview.com.cn/.
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Although most of this press is US-based, you can imagine that folks in the US in the ethnic communities you are researching would be talking about issues in their home countries.
Updated monthly. Provides full-text coverage of newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press in America (some international coverage). Includes more than 400,000 full-text articles from 200 publications.
Latin American Newsstand This link opens in a new window
Current. You may need Spanish or Portuguese reading skills.
Updated daily. Provides full text access to 41 newspapers from Puerto Rico and 11 Latin American countries with complete articles in ASCII format. Includes papers from Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Content is in Spanish and Portuguese.
Key newspaper titles include El Universal, Mexico City's largest-selling newspaper; O Globo (Brazil); La Nacion (Argentina); and El Mercurio (Chile). Three business titles, El Economista (Mexico), Valor Economico (Brazil), and Portafolio (Colombia) are also important resources for researchers.
A complete title list is available.
MidEast Wire This link opens in a new window
Current. These are English translations taken from the media of 22 Arab countries, Iran and the Arab diaspora.
Updated daily. Offers brief English translations taken from the media of the 22 Arab countries, Iran and the Arab Diaspora. Covers key political, cultural, economic and opinion pieces.
To search by country and/or topic, select Archives Search, Advance Search button in the right screen column.
We have a limited number of users for this database. Please select the logout option before you leave your session. When the limit is reached, a username and password prompt will probably be displayed. If this happens, simply wait 15 minutes and then try the link again. And while the screen might request login information at other times as well, our access does not require any additional authentication.
New York Times Online This link opens in a new window
Access restricted to current UT Austin students, faculty, and staff only. New users MUST register first for free access! See our Instructions for creating your NYT account.

After creating your account, access articles, video, audio, digital images of the newspaper back to 1851, and more through the New York Times.com and the NYT mobile app.

Access includes more than 150 years of articles, breaking news, multimedia content, Times newsletters, the International, Spanish, and Chinese editions of the Times, and teaching and learning tools. Our subscription also includes access to the NYT Cooking, Games, and The Athletic.

The New York Times, published in New York City since 1851, is the largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States. The New York Times has long been an important source of reporting, information and opinion, covering politics, finance, health, science, culture, the arts, sports, and fashion in the U.S. and abroad, with special emphasis on the New York metropolitan area.
PressReader This link opens in a new window
This is only a 2 month archive, so only search very recent conflicts here. Full page versions of publications from all over the world.
Updated daily. Provides a full-color and full-page collection of newspapers from around the world,. Includes over 1000 titles from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States. A 60-day archive is also available to browse by country, language, and newspaper title, and to search full text of articles, photograph captions, and headlines.
Once inside the newspaper, click on a headline to read the article or zoom in to read the article as it appears in print.
We have a limited number of users for this database. Please select the logout option before you leave your session. When the limit is reached, a username and password prompt will probably be displayed. If this happens, simply wait 15 minutes and then try the link again.
World News Connection This link opens in a new window
English translations of foreign news sources and information.
Contains materials provided to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). The reports are full text, English translations of foreign news sources and information. Many of the materials are copyrighted. Particularly effective in its coverage of local media sources. Compiled from thousands of worldwide media sources.

Encyclopediae

SAGE Knowledge This link opens in a new window
Includes encyclopedias and debates on social science topics, including sexuality and gender.
Platform for Sage eBook and eReference content, including scholarly monographs, reference works, handbooks, series, professional development titles, and more. Only select ebook titles purchased by the UT Libraries are fully accessible.
For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide

Develop a search strategy

Turn a topic into a search

Copy to your google drive instead
File > Make a copy