COM ARTS 262: Theory and Practice of Argumentation and Debate (Spring 2025) : Find Sources Using Library Databases

For your second paper (contexts of argument) and your final speech, a minimum number of sources for each must come from the following library databases:

Opposing Viewpoints in Context

• Contains viewpoint articles, topic overviews, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles on many topics currently debated in U.S. society.
• Click "Browse issues" link in upper right to get a list of all the topics the database covers.
  • Optional: click "View all" next to "Topics" on left to narrow the list of topics a bit.
• Three search options:
  • Main "Search" box in upper left.
  • "Advanced search" (link below main search box). 
    • Allows you to limit by 
      • Publication date
      • Content type
    • Gives you a more structured search, with search boxes you can connect by the operators AND, OR.  
    • "Advanced search" allows you to search for terms in specific field or parts of a record, like title or author, or entire document.
  • "Search within results:" use when you've browsed issues and clicked on an issue.  This search option will appear just above the lists of results by content type.

Academic Search

• Multidisciplinary database, covering many subjects.
• Indexes and abstracts articles from academic journals, newspapers and other news sources, magazines, and trade journals.
• Look at "subject" terms for ideas of other terms to use in searches.
• Part of the EbscoHost family of databases.

The UW-Madison Libraries subscribe to hundreds of databases.  To find databases by the subjects or types of resources they cover (for example, videos, statistics, primary sources), see the "Searching for a Database by Topic" section of the Finding Article Databases tip sheet.

Follow   (Find It button) or the "Find It at UW Madison" link in most databases to:

• access the full article (when available)
• determine if the journal is available in print (Library Catalog)
• request a copy of the article (PDF) if the full article is not available online (Request a Copy link)

If you already have a citation, use the Citation Search to find the full article.

For an expanded version of this box, see the Searching Databases tip sheet. 

• Use AND to combine different words to find all those words, in any order AND narrows your search.
  • internships AND compensation
• Use OR to combine similar words or phrases to find either of the words or phrases. OR broadens your search. 
  • paid OR compensation
• Use quotation marks to find words as a phrase
  • "internship programs"
• Use an asterisk ( * ) to find varied ends of words .
  • compensat* will find compensation, compensate, and compensated l
• Review "subject headings" or "descriptors" to identify additional and useful search terms.
• Apply limits or filters to your results (by date, document type, or other).