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Civic Education at SHS: Research Resources for Civic Education

Step 1: Examine Yourself and Start Researching

Take the time to reflect on your own interest and passion related to your issue of choice. This reflection will help you build a strong foundation before you begin the next steps.

Also take time to consider how much of your own story (or the stories of those close to you) you wish to share on this journey. Set boundaries at the beginning to help you approach your choices with more confidence.

Then use resources available to you to understand the issue beyond yourself. Research will clarify...

  • Successful (and unsuccessful) attempts to address the issue by others
  • What individuals or groups are also affected by this issue
  • The arguments for and against the issue
  • The reasons for this issue's importance
  • And the possible benefits of the change you are seeking.

The resources on this page are a great place to get started. 

Take the time to build a strong foundation of understanding through your self examination and research. It will support you throughout your journey.

Questions 1-3

Shared with Permission from the Harvard Democratic Knowledge Project.

 

Additional Resources

Databases

Activism

Youth Activist Toolkit

A PDF ebook with great information for youth activists, from forming a plan through execution.

Free Government e-Resources for Youth: Inform, Inspire, and Activate

Shows free online resources such as reference, programming and displays. ABC-CLIO

Understanding Government Information: a Teaching Strategy Toolkit for Grades 7-12

This book explores how government information can be used to engage students through project based learning.

Guides

Contemporary US Social Issues (Organized Alphabetically)

The #MeToo Movement

An overview of the #MeToo movement and it's impact on American society. ABC-CLIO

African Americans by the Numbers

Current statistics about African Americans highlighting social, economic and political disparities. ABC-CLIO

Antisemitism: Exploring the Issues

This book explores the causes and consequences of contemporary antisemitism, placing this form of hatred in its historical, political, and social contexts. ABC-CLIO

Crisis on the Border

Refugees and Undocumented Immigrants from Big Timber Media.

Critical Thinking about Digital Media Series

This book series includes Twitter Culture, Fake News, the Confirmation Bias, Understanding Memes, Weaponized Social Media, and When Content Goes Viral.

Critical World Issues: Consumerism

Due to today’s globalized economic systems, how and what you buy has repercussions that impact people all over the world.

Cybercrime

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

Drug Use and Mental Health Series

This book series includes books about drug use and causes, mental health, the family, the law, intervention and recovery, alcohol, tobacco, hallucinogens, marijuana, opioids, over-the-counter drugs, performance-enhancing drugs, prescription drugs, and stimulants.

Energy Resources

This title provides an overview of economic, political, and environmental drivers of America's energy picture, from trends in the production and consumption of fossil fuels and renewables to the state of the national energy grid.

Family Separation and the U. S. -Mexico Border Crisis

This book provides background information on the political, social, and economic forces driving undocumented immigration into America. ABC-CLIO

The Family Values Movement

The family values movement is a conservative movement that strongly supports traditional social values.

Gender and Identity Around the World [2 Volumes]

This book examines how gender and LGBTQ identities are developed, fought for, perceived, and policed in countries as diverse as France, Brazil, Russia, Jordan, Iraq, and China. ABC-CLIO

Immigrant and Refugee Injustice

Immigrants and refugees often face bias and discrimination when coming to a new country. This is called immigrant and refugee injustice. This book covers the history of immigrant and refugee injustice, key moments in fighting it, and what can be done to end it in the future.

Indigenous Peoples [4 Volumes]

This title examines the lives, histories, social structures, cultures, and futures of indigenous peoples around the world, including their role in the world, their politics, and their customs and traditions. Includes well-known groups with large populations, and other lesser-known groups with few surviving members. Sections cover geography and environment; history and politics; society, culture, and tradition; access to health care and education; and threats to survival.

Internet Addiction

This book provides an introduction to the issue of internet addiction, an increasingly common problem.- ABC-CLIO

LGBTQ Americans in the U. S. Political System [2 Volumes]

This sourcebook covers the evolution of LGBTQ engagement in American politics, from the emergence of gay rights as a political issue in the 1970s to the present, when LGBTQ issues figure prominently in politics.

LGBTQ+: Defining Documents in American History

"This set, Defining Documents in American History: LGBTQ+ (1923-2017) offers in-depth analysis of 35 primary source documents drawn from the ongoing movement to achieve recognition and equality for members of the LGBTQ+ community, beginning with Emma Goldman's "On the Unjust Treatment of Homosexuals," written in 1923, through Danica Roem's speech in 2017, celebrating her election as the first openly transgender elected official in United States History."

Living Proud! Book Series

Big Timber Media
Books in Series: Bing Transgender, Coming Out and Seeking Support, Confronting Stereotypes, Engaging with Politics, Facing Homophobia, Finding Community, Keeping Physically Healthy, Living with Religion and Faith, Staying Mentally Healthy.

Media Bias Point/Counterpoint

Explores whether or not people can trust print and electronic media to report the news with accuracy.

Opioids and Opiates: The Silent Epidemic

This book series includes Chronic Pain and Prescription Painkillers, Preventing and Treating Addiction, the Dangers of Drug Abuse, The Heroin Crisis, and Who is Using Opioids and Opiates.

Poverty and Welfare in America

This book closely examines controversial claims and beliefs surrounding poverty and anti-poverty programs in the United States.

Power and Restraint

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.

Race and Sports

This book discusses minority athletes, coaches, sports journalists, and others in U.S. sport. It explores the history of minority involvement in sports at every level: the barriers broken, the stereotypes that have been shattered, and the difficulties that these pioneers have endured.

Race Relations in America

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.

Racial Literacy Series

The books in this series include Examining Assimilation, Investigating Institutional Racism, Navigating Intersectionality, Recognizing Microaggressions, Looking at Privilege and Power, and Questioning Cultural Appropriation.

School Shootings and the Never Again Movement

A detailed exploration of the Never Again movement through analysis of key events, biographical profiles of the activists, and essays about school shootings.

Sexual Violence and Harassment Series

This book series includes the following titles: Abuse Among Family and Friends, Coping with Sexual Violence and Harassment, Dealing with Dating and Romance, and Preventing Sexual Assault and Harassment. From Big Timber Media

The Sexualization of Childhood

Examines the ways in which children are being sexualized, the physical and psychological consequences.

Social Issues in America

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.

Spotlight on Current Events

Comprising essays on a variety of topics such as immigration, gun control, abortion, race relations, the environment, and gender.

The Spread of Hate and Extremism

This book examines white supremacism and other ideologies that motivate these groups. From Big Timber Media

Stereotypes: the Incidence and Impacts of Bias

This book examines current and emerging research on how stereotypes begin, grow, and harm the members of society—and what can be done to stop them. - ABC-CLIO

Substance Abuse in America

A history of drug policy in the United States from the early 1900s through the present day. (Book written in 2012).

The Suicide Epidemic

Information and data about America's suicide epidemic from Big Timber Media.

Teen Stress

This book answers readers' questions about the causes and consequences of stress and how it can be prevented and managed. Life can be stressful, especially for teens, and this stress can have negative impacts on both physical and psychological health.

Threats to Civil Liberties Series

Big Timber Media
Books in Series: Policing, Privacy, Religion, Speech, and Voting

Policing (Civil Liberties)

From the Threats to Civil Liberties series on Big Timber Media.

Privacy (Civil Liberties)

From the Threats to Civil Liberties series on Big Timber Media.

Religion (Civil Liberties)

From the Threats to Civil Liberties series on Big Timber Media.

Speech (Civil Liberties)

From the Threats to Civil Liberties series on Big Timber Media.

Voting (Civil Liberties)

From the Threats to Civil Liberties on Big Timber Media.

Torture and Enhanced Interrogation

"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

Transgender

This resources focuses on more than one idea or experience of trans identity and trans history.

The Vaping Controversy

This book overview of vaping and its impact on American culture and public health, especially among younger Americans.

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