Use the resources below to explore your topic.
When doing research about controversial topics, keep the following things in mind:
Read around your topic with Encyclopedia Databases.
During the beginning stages of your research, reading around your topic helps you to:
Encyclopedia Databases provide thorough background information on a variety of topics and are a strong resource at this stage of research.
Issues and Controversies from Facts on File and Isses from ABC-CLIO are the best places to start your research.
Strong resource to explore modern issues and controversies in the United States.
Explore modern issues and controversies in society.
Thorough encyclopedia articles for research about American Government.
A great online encyclopedia database for background and introductory research.
Follet Shelf ebook (search for book) - book about the history of crime and the criminal justice system in America.
From the Threats to Civil Liberties series on Big Timber Media.
This book explores the moral complexities of situations faced by law enforcement officers every day across the United States. It extends our understanding of the basis of police accountability by grounding it in principles of the social contract and constitutional democracy.
This book uses evidence-based documentation to provide a full and impartial examination of race in America, drawing on research from a variety of fields to answer frequently asked questions regarding race relations, systemic racism, and racial inequality.
This reference guide documents white-collar crimes by individuals and businesses over the past 150 years, offering the most comprehensive array of documents and interpretations available. ABC-CLIO
Includes information and debates related to civil liberties. ABC-CLIO
Includes topics such as proposed sentencing, prison preforms, stand your ground, supreme court decisions, current data, and more. ABC-CLIO
From financial theft, destruction of systems, fraud, corporate espionage, and ransoming of information to the more personal, such as stalking and web-cam spying as well as cyberterrorism, this work covers the full spectrum of crimes committed via cyberspace.- ABC-CLIO
A history of drug policy in the United States from the early 1900s through the present day. (Book written in 2012).
"A comprehensive look at torture, this book explains where we are as a society with regard to use, how we got here, and where the state of thought on it may be in the future." - ABC-CLIO
Provides analysis on everything from human rights reports to Supreme Court cases that allows the reader to fully understand these documents. ABC-CLIO
This reference guide documents white-collar crimes by individuals and businesses over the past 150 years, offering the most comprehensive array of documents and interpretations available. ABC-CLIO
This work covers hotly contested social issues in America today—everything from abortion, academic freedom, and affirmative action to consumer debt, homeland security, illegal immigration, poverty and wealth, reproductive rights, and terrorism.
Comprising essays on a variety of topics such as immigration, gun control, abortion, race relations, the environment, and gender.
The following resources are best when you already have:
Article Databases search through a curated collection of newspapers, magazines, journals, books, and more. There are often many more articles with greater depth than Encyclopedia databases. Adding your key terms to a search will help you narrow your results.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context and Global Isses from Gale are great databases to explore once you know a bit about your topic.
Explore issues and controversies in modern society from a variety of viewpoints and sources.
Curated resources related to the criminal justice system.
Access current and historical New York Times Articles through Gale.
Search all Gale databases.
Curated resources related to issues and controversies around the world.
JSTOR is a scholarly journal database with great resources for academic research. You must have Boston Public Library eCard for JSTOR. Get the eCard here: bit.ly/bpltutorials
