1. What is Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center?
Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center is the premier database covering social issues, such as Gun Control, Genetic Engineering, Censorship, Endangered Species, and Terrorism. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center brings together viewpoint articles, contextual topic overviews, government and organizational statistics, biographies of social activists, court cases, profiles of government agencies and special interest groups, newspaper and magazines articles, primary source documents, images, and a collection of subject-indexed Web sites. It takes its name from the renowned Opposing Viewpoints print series published by Greenhaven Press, an imprint of Thomson Gale. Back to Top
2. Is the entire Opposing Viewpoints print collection online?
No, not all of the titles are online. As of August 2005, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center includes nearly 170 titles from the Opposing Viewpoints series and 288 titles from other Greenhaven series focusing on the issues that ranked highest in our market research. The database will continue to grow as we add more titles and content.
Due to online rights restrictions, some of the articles in the volumes cannot appear online. Back to Top
3. What content is shared between Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and Student Resource Center?
Most of the magazines and newspapers in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center are also in Student Resource Center, but the rest of the content is completely different. The two products are complementary. That's why the capability to cross-search Student Resource Center—for customers who have both Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and Student Resource Center—from the Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center interface is so valuable. Back to Top
4. What are the available search options?
On the main screen, users can either select an issue from the topic picklist or key in a search term in the type-in box. Selecting an issue from the picklist executes a Subject search. If a user keys in a search term, the user can also select whether the search conducted is Subject, Keyword, or Full-text. There is also an Advanced Search to target more specific results.
For customers who also subscribe to Student Resource Center, the searches will be run against the Student Resource Center database. Student Resource Center results can be viewed under the "SRC Search" tab. Back to Top
5. How many links to Web sites are in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center?
Two thousand Web sites are available in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and more will be added. These sites represent the organizations, institutes, and government agencies that provide many of the viewpoint articles in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center and were selected by the Opposing Viewpoints editorial staff. Back to Top
6. Are all the Information Plus titles online?
Yes. As of August 2005, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center contains 38 volumes from this series of statistics, government data, and information on laws, legislation, and public policies. The database will grow as more content is added. Back to Top
Tools for Getting Started:
Tools for Wrapping Up:
8. What is the Research Guide?
The Research Guide, written by the Opposing Viewpoints editorial staff, is designed to help students analyze the information they retrieve, develop critical thinking skills, and prepare for oral or written presentation of their opinions on social issues. Along with the Toolbox, the Research Guide directly supports classroom learning. Here is a list of the topics covered:
9. How much information is contained in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center?
10. Are dictionaries found in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center?
Yes, Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center contains Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate, New Biographical, and Geographical dictionaries. Back to Top
11. When is new content added and updated in Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center?
Newspaper and periodical content is updated daily. New and updated reference content---updated editions of our Information Plus titles and new articles from the Opposing Viewpoints Series---is added to the database at least five times per year. Back to Top