Resources for Critical Analysis

Points of View Reference Source covers hundreds of topics, each with an Overview (objective background/description), Point (argument) and Counterpoint (opposing argument).

Each topic also features a Guide to Critical Analysis which helps the reader evaluate the controversy and enhances students’ ability to read critically, develop their own perspective on the issues, and write or debate an effective argument on the topic.

Topics Include:

  • AI-Generated Art
  • Censorship and Democracy
  • Classified Documents
  • Electoral Reform
  • Electric Vehicles
  • Free College Tuition
  • Israel & the Palestinians
  • Political Rhetoric
  • Remote Learning
  • Supply Chain
  • Title IX
  • Ukraine

Points of View Reference Source provides a balance of materials from all viewpoints with:

  • Leading political magazines from across the political spectrum
  • Newspapers
  • Radio and television news transcripts
  • Primary source documents
  • Reference books

The database also offers related images and supplementary research guides for writing position papers, developing arguments and debating.

Curriculum Support

The content in Points of View Reference Source supports curriculum standards that ask students to analyze informational texts and hone their critical thinking skills. In addition, the interface includes the following features and benefits:

  • Reading level indicators (Lexile Measures) to provide educators with an estimate of the search result’s reading difficulty and the approximate grade level reading ability required for comprehension
  • Text-to-speech for HTML and PDF articles to help auditory learners, struggling readers and those learning developing English language proficiency
  • Curriculum Standards Module to help educators correlate EBSCO content quickly and easily to Common Core, state or provincial curriculum standards

Intuitive User Experience

Available through Explora, Points of View Reference Source offers a variety of features and functionality to support research success and productivity. In addition to simple and advanced search options and powerful filters, researchers have the ability to explore topics by category. These categories include censorship, earth and environment, global issues, health and medicine, immigration, media and communications, voting and elections, women’s issues and more.

Each category breaks down into subtopics that are logical for all users and friendlier to younger or novice researchers.

Visit the Explora page to learn about additional features, functionality and integrations.

Quote

This resource is a powerful research and teaching tool, and interest should extend far beyond debate and forensics applications.

Kathleen McBroom, Booklist