LibGuides: ENGL 112: Beginning Your Research

Getting Started

The first step of the research process is getting background information around your topic: some history and context as well as recent statistics and trends. Besides giving us a useful orientation to the topic, this foundational research can help us identify key language and concepts and begin to form a more nuanced research question. This type of background reading (including history and context) can be found in Wikipedia and the sources linked below.

For this stage, we recommend "lateral reading." This means reading briefly on your topic across several different sources that you can understand easily (versus diving into a single academic source).

Finding Background Info to Explore or Refine Topics

(Jason Goecke via Flickr with Creative Commons)

These resources provide helpful background and history, statistics, and current trends around controversial topics:

Opposing Viewpoints
Subject: Social Sciences, History, Business, Health, Law, Politics.Analysis of current social issues from different points of view. Often includes overviews of the history and controversies around a topic.

Points of View Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Subject: History, Art, Literature Full-text essays, articles, and guides that present multiple sides of an issue.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Subjects: Social & Behavioral Sciences, Health Sciences, Political Sciences, Law Enforcement Index with full-text to in-depth studies on current or controversial issues from 1991-current. Note: only 5 users at any given time.

Room for Debate
The Room for Debate opinion pages from the New York Times provide essays around controversial topics from a range of perspectives. Access is limited to 10 articles a month.
Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.

Online Encyclopedias and Other Reference Sources

Gale Virtual Reference Library
Subjects: Business, Biological Sciences. Online access to variety of reference books from the Gale publishing family. Can search an individual title or all titles at once.
Oxford Reference Online
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias for a wide range of subject areas: Archaeology, Art, Architecture, History, Language, Linguistics, Health, Music, Literature, Philosophy, Science, and Social Science. Full-text subject reference works in a single cross-searchable resource. Note: accommodates only 1 user at any given time.
Encyclopedia of American Studies
From Johns Hopkins University - Covers the history, philosophy, arts, and cultures of the United States in relation to the world, from pre-colonial days to the present.

USA.gov - Data and Statistics
Gateway to U. S. government statistics covering business & economics, the environment, family, home & community, health & nutrition, jobs & education, public safety, science & technology, travel & recreation. Type in a keyword for your topic and the word statistics.
CIA World Factbook
Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. From the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.

Government information sources at federal, state, county & city levels

Information, statistics, and publications from federal government agencies

Colorado State Agencies, publications, and statistics

Mesa County agencies, codes, reports and statistics

City ordinances, reports, and statistics

Local information sources for particular regional issues

For more local and regional information resources, see this guide on local issues

For local or regional news:

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (ask the Reference desk for full text beyond the free article limit)
Daily Sentinel Index 1900-2005 (Just an index for the microfilm; Helpful for historical research)
Montrose Daily Press
Glenwood Springs Post Independent
The Durango Herald
High Country News
The Colorado Sun
Colorado Public Radio