Back to School Update: SIRS Issues Researcher Creates Critical Thinkers
Intro Copy
Welcome to a new school year! Our editorial team has curated pro/con resources and tools to help students think critically about current events and other important social issues.
At a Glance -- New in Time for 2018-2019 School Year!
12 new Leading Issues (out of 368 total Leading Issues) Including Antisemitism, Artificial Intelligence, College Environment, Disability Rights, Financial Literacy, Fraternities and Sororities, Higher Education, Prison Reform, Sanctuary Cities, Slavery Reparations, Sports Betting, Transportation 25 new sources (out of more than 2,200 total sources) Including CNN Commentary, InsideClimate News Newswire, Medical Ethics Advisor, South China Morning Post (Online), The Diplomat Over 9,000 new editor-selected articles (out of more than 131,000 total articles) Over 900 new editor-selected multimedia/statistics (out of more than 24,000 total multimedia/statistics)
Finding a Research Topic: Leading Issues
12 New Leading Issues: The collection features 368 Leading Issues! One of the biggest challenges for students in writing an argument or research paper is choosing a topic. The Leading Issues pro/con framework helps students pick a topic and understand its origins, related issues, global perspectives, and essential questions under debate.Lesson Idea: Guide students through six steps of the research process using the Research Guide starting with picking a topic. The guide is conveniently located under the overview text of every Leading Issue.
Historical Context: Timelines
11 New Leading Issues Timelines: Now with over 200 unique timelines! Each Leading Issue contains a link to a timeline (below the overview text) that provides context on the history and major events related to the social issue.Lesson Idea: Have students research in the product to create their own timeline of a Leading Issue topic. Then have them compare their timeline to the one linked in the Leading Issue page.
Visual Literacy: Image Collection
Over 900 New Multimedia/Statistics. The collection contains a total of over 24,000 photos, charts, graphics, infographics, editorial cartoons, and in-house editor-created charts. Visual and data literacy is an essential skill with the predominance of photos and charts in the news and social media channels.Lesson Idea: Help students learn how to analyze an editorial cartoon with the Editorial Cartoons Curriculum Guide and practice their skills using an editorial cartoon featured in a Leading Issue.
Information Literacy: Reference Content
25 New Sources. The product contains over 2,200 sources including newspapers, magazines, reference, government documents, and primary sources. The editorial team selects a wide variety of sources and viewpoints so students are equipped to analyze Leading Issues from every angle.Lesson Idea: Have students dig deeper into a Leading Issue by answering one of the Critical Thinking & Analysis questions accessible below the overview text of a Leading Issue. Ask them to use three different source types in their research.
The Editorial Difference -- 100% Curated Content
Over 9,000 New Articles. SIRS Issues Researcher contains over 131,000 articles and every single article is selected, indexed, and added to the product by a member of our editorial team to ensure optimal relevance and context for student users. ProQuest’s talented team members are professionals with diverse educational backgrounds – many with advanced degrees in English, History, Multimedia Journalism, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, and Criminal Justice.Lesson Idea: Have students be editorial curators for a day and select articles from the product as supporting evidence for two viewpoints of a Leading Issue. Use a note organizer such as Writing to Inform to help them document their research.For more information on the features and benefits of SIRS Issues Researcher go to: https://proquest.libguides.com/IssuesResearcher *New and updated offerings were made from September 2017 to August 2018.