Issues / Debate / Policy

Issues that are debated in today’s world may include –

how people should behave (and how laws can be formed to support those behaviors)
how governments should be empowered to apply tax money and manpower to create solutions
how people should vote and get active to support or defeat government action
what policies should be TOP PRIORITY for government action (and whether to grow or decrease the size of regulation)

Web sites are easily discovered on the web, especially if they are labeled .gov or .org. They may contain official policy and government resources (if they are dot-govs.) They might represents specific advocacy groups that are non-profits if they are .orgs. The researcher should note if the materials are professionally prepared, prepared by scholars, or perfhaps sloppily prepared or presented as mischief (hoax sites / fake news.) Researchers can gain skill to guard against mis-information on the internet by using critical thinking skills and questions with this training available from H-B’s Library.

Library Books on issues faced by governments and society are in our 300’s. Some popular categories are:

racial groups and race relations (305’s and 320’s)
gender, sexual equality (306) sexual harassment, sex discrimination (371)
solutions to fight poverty, homelessness (330’s and upward)
law and freedoms (340’s)
healthcare and narcotics (362 and 368)
Supreme Court Cases (342 and 347)
warfare and international relations (320’s for espionage and also 350’s – 362) (also developed in our 900’s history section)
food (362 see also and 613.2)
punishment of crimes and the effect on society (347, 362, 365, and 368)
environment / climate (363; see also 551, 577 and 613.2)
education (370s) (ask to look in our Professional Collection near Carol’s desk)
crimes, terrorism, human rights, disasters and the government’s response (363 -364)
commerce, communications and trade (

Social Activism focused: enjoy these fiction and non-fiction books for middle schoolers. <– check them out from our library.

Gale’s database called Opposing Viewpoints in Context is a collection of resources which include:

reference articles that overview briefly the whole issue and refer additional sources for learning
opinion pieces such at speeches and editorial essays written by thought leaders (advocates, candidates, government leaders who are elected to pursue a specific policy.)
primary sources that are “quotable” that might be fact OR opinion.

Current News Items are found in the Opinion/Essay vs. News sections of major outlets. Well staffed and respected news outlets listed here.

Political Parties create their national “platform” every 4 years to express their positions on issues. Find links at the bottom of this page. Looking up a candidate’s official web page will help find their statements on the policy they want enacted by government.

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Choosing a topic for research? Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints in Context database has a “browse issues” button that lists hot topics and LINKS to the resources they’ve curated.