LibGuides: OnRamps Rhetoric Research Guide: Choose and Develop your Topic

Explore Topics and Find Background Information

Use these databases to find out more about a topic or issue, identify stakeholders, and learn key terms and vocabulary.

Gale eBooks
Encyclopedias.

Updated regularly. A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. Fully searchable across all files. A list of sources included in our subscription is available.
For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide
Credo Reference
Encyclopedias, broad overviews and a handy mind mapping tool for keyword exploration.

Over 3 million full-text authoritative dictionary/encyclopedia-like entries alongside thousands of easily searchable images, audio files, and videos. Credo provides access to hundreds of in-depth titles covering major subjects from current Social Issues to Ancient History and Shakespeare to Einstein. Includes "Mind Maps", keyword visualization tools.
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints
Encyclopedia articles, news, scholarship and viewpoint essays.

Updated daily. Provides full text access to differing points of view on current social issues. Brings together viewpoint articles, contextual topic overviews, government and organizational statistics, biographies of social activists, court cases, profiles of government agencies and special interest groups, newspaper and magazine articles, as well as links to more than 1,800 reviewed and subject-indexed web sites.

Opposing Viewpoints - What will I find here?
You'll find multiple viewpoints on an issue in essays- rarely just pro and con.
These essays are excerpted from a source (journal, magazine, newspaper, report, government publication, website, blog, etc.). The articles are rarely strict reproductions of the original source -- they have been trimmed down considerably, edited, reformatted, and section titles have often been added that were not in the original document.
You'll also find journal articles, news articles, statistics and more.

How do I find the original document?
At the end of every entry you will see the citation:

Now I know that this essay was published first in the Huffington Post under a different title. I can find that original article if I like and read the whole thing.