With the massive, ever-growing amount of information available on the internet these days, how do you decide which resources are reliable and pertinent?
Opposing Viewpoints in Context — an online resource covering today’s hottest social issues, from offshore drilling to climate change and health care to immigration — helps users research, analyze and organize data.
The database — which polled librarians named one of 2013's best — is useful for students writing reports or for those who simply wish to stay informed on current social issues.
In addition to the engaging, streamlined interface and media-rich pages, the collection of content and curriculum-focused tools help students explore issues from all perspectives with these tools:
•Pro/con viewpoint essays
•Topic overviews
•More than 300 primary-source documents
•Biographies of social activists and reformers
•Court-case overviews
•Periodical articles
•Statistical tables, charts and graphs
•Images and a link to Google Image Search
•Podcasts, including weekly presidential addresses and NPR programs
•A national and state curriculum standards search, correlated with content that allows educators to quickly identify material by grade and discipline
You can access Opposing Viewpoints with your library card. Go to our website, www.cityofcrestview.org/library.php, and click on “Electronic Resources” on the left. Click on the “Opposing Viewpoints in Context” icon and type in your library barcode number to access the database.
Marie Garcia is the Crestview Public Library's assistant library director.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CHECK IT OUT: Understanding the Opposing Viewpoints in Context database