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Recommended Web Sites: Opinions/Opposing views

Opposing views

Opposing viewsSometimes we need or want to learn about controversial issues.  Using these resources will help you learn about both sides of the issue.

ProCon.org - Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues

ProCon.orgOur purpose is to provide resources for critical thinking and to educate without bias. We research issues that are controversial and important, and we present them in a balanced, comprehensive, straightforward, transparent, and primarily pro-con format at no charge.

The Problem We Are Tackling: The constant barrage of inaccurate, misleading, and biased news and information prevents many people from making informed decisions about important social issues.

Our Solution: We provide free, unbiased, and sourced information so people can better understand important social issues and make more informed decisions about them.

Our Mission: Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, and primarily pro-con format.

About these resources

According to the 2011 article by Mick O'Leary, databases contain the best information.  The journals found within the databases do not accept anonymous submissions; whereas, generally, the "free public websites" do accept unsigned articles.  However, he did state that the websites offer quality articles.  O'Leary does state that "ProCon.org is the best of the free pro-con websites."  One can find the name and bio of each researcher, the IT Manager, and the President & Managing Editor (About Us), which provides validity to the quality of information posted.

The "Other websites" are listed in order of quality, based on O'Leary's article.
O'Leary, M. (2011). The pro-con databases: arguments on anything.(DATABASE UPDATE). Information Today, (7). 20.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context DATABASE

Opposing Viewpoints in ContextOpposing Viewpoints in Context is the premier online resource covering today’s hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration. Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations and more.

In addition to the engaging, streamlined interface and media-rich topic pages, the product's unprecedented collection of content and curriculum-focused tools that help students explore issues from all perspectives include:

  • 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 premier NPR programs
  • A national and state curriculum standards search, correlated to the content that allows educators to quickly identify material by grade and discipline

Opposing Viewpoints in Context contains more than 700 Greenhaven Press, Gale, Macmillan Reference USA™, Charles Scribner’s Sons® and U·X·L titles. New reference content is added on an ongoing basis, and new full-text periodical and newspaper articles are added every day.

Points of View Reference Center DATABASE

Points of View Reference Center

Points of View Reference Center
Points of View Reference Center contains many topics, each with an overview (objective background/description), point (argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument). For each topic, this database also offers a Guide to Critical Analysis, which helps the reader evaluate the controversial topics. The Guide to Critical Analysis enhances students’ ability to read critically, develop their own perspective on the issues, and write or debate an effective argument on the topic.

Factcheck.org

 

 

FactCheck.org is a nonprofit website that describes itself as a non-partisan "'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics". It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation. Most of its content consists of rebuttals to what it considers inaccurate, misleading, or false claims by politicians. Other features include:​

Also see the Wikipedia article on FactCheck.org for more resources.

Other websites - Rumors, Hoaxes, Fact checking