Controversial Argument Research

Controversial Argument Essay Assignment - Getting Started

Controversial Issues Resources

Google tip for browsing questions related to your topic:

  • Search for your topic with Google
  • Scroll to People also ask & click on any question to load more questions

To generate questions, also try: Answer the Public

Searching Further

There are two main ways to find different information...

1) Change your starting point

2) Change your keywords

(words you use to search)

Change your starting point: search general library databases

Change your starting point: search other general websites

Below are 5 different starting points to try. Results will vary depending on your topic and keywords you use.

  • Google Dataset Search - Search for datasets related to your topic.
  • Google News - Start hee to search for news articles or by selecting the News tab after conducting a Google search.
  • AllSides - Search news coverage across publications that generally present different perspectives.
  • FactCheck.org - Search this IFCN signatory fact-checking website to learn about debated and/or debunked evidence. Others to try include Snopes and Politifact.
  • Google Scholar - Search for articles and access results that have a link on the right side.

Change your starting point: search across "sides"

What and how is information presented differently?

  • Search for your topic from a website with a more consistently liberal audience and then from a website with a more consistently conservative audience.

How do sources differ in terms of:

  • stories covered and highlighted
  • headlines, titles, and images
  • pathos: emotional appeals and language
  • logos: evidence that is presented and how it is framed; evidence that is omitted

Change Keywords: try synonyms or related terms

Example - If you are researching the prison system, you might also search:

  • criminal justice
  • prison industrial complex
  • correctional system
  • incarceration

Try these tools to come up with synonyms or related terms to search:

Change keywords: add context terms to search keywords

Example - If you are researching the prison system, you might also search:

  • prison system legislation
  • prison system timeline
  • prison system investigative report
  • incarceration rates <---This is an example of using a related term AND adding a context term!

In Google, check out autocomplete suggestions or try:

Also, below is a list of context terms you may consider adding to your search keywords. Can you think of others?

Search Context Terms