Learn about Exploring Issues features by clicking on one of the buttons above or download a pdf of the tour.
Each issue in Exploring Issues is made up of a series of articles including an overview of the issue, debates at a glance summarizing each related controversy, and pro/con viewpoint articles. Each article includes documented primary and secondary quotes and a full-color captioned infographic. Exploring Issues has been designed to offer easy access to the information needed to get a basic understanding of the controversies surrounding each featured issue. Additional tools include printing, downloading, sharing, translation, and automatic page citation in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles. The site is integrated with Google Classroom and Google Drive for easy use in the classroom or for assignments.
Each Debate at a Glance article summarizes the pro/con arguments for each debate.
Viewpoint articles present the dominant arguments for that position. Each viewpoint includes an introduction presenting the main points discussed, full-color infographic, and documented primary and secondary quotes with pop-up footnotes.
Full-color infographics can be accessed from the article where they appear or from the infographics gallery for each issue. Each visually represents supporting statistics and facts for a particular issue.
Exploring Issues Includes a variety of resources for users including downloadable writing guides and classroom exercises, collections of facts related to the issues, links to organizations and additional sources for research.
Content
- Unbiased and easy to use resource supports research papers, debate preparation, persuasive essays, and class discussions
- Promotes critical thinking and reading
- Clean and accessible design invites users and helps them get the information they need
- Issue content includes both objective, unbiased overviews and clear pro/con arguments
- Debate at a Glance summarizes pro/con arguments’ main points
- Numerous captioned, full color infographics and statistics support positions
- Hundreds of primary and secondary source quotes with citation export
- Growing collection of issues with updates as needed
Features
- Related organizations with annotations and links
- Google Drive and Google Classroom integration
- Print, copy, PDF download and share tools
- Instant translation into 100 languages
- Downloadable student and teacher guides for writing, research, and class activities and discussions
- MLA/APA citation tool for primary content
- Optimized for use on mobile devices
- 24/7 unlimited user access
- Free downloadable MARC records for cataloging available
- $295 single site license, multi-site pricing available
For the Student
- Easily research current issues for writing assignments, debates, and class projects.
- Download infographics for use in presentations and projects.
- Find documented quoted materials from both sides of an issue.
- Use related resources for additional research.
- Download student resources for assistance in critical reading and writing.
For the Teacher:
- Easily prepare critical thinking lessons.
- Find a wealth of materials to use for classroom discussion, writing exercises, and issue analysis.
- Get ideas for current issues classroom activities from downloadable teacher resources.
- Incorporate materials into assignments and classroom activities using Google Classroom.
- Use Exploring Issues materials such as Debate at a Glance, Facts, Focus Questions, and Infographics for classroom activities and discussions.
For the Librarian:
- Provide your patrons with objective analysis and balanced pro-con discussion of today’s issues.
- Assist educators in integrating technology into the classroom and creating engaging critical thinking activities.
Our database can be used on a Mac or PC platform. A minimum of 512 MB of RAM is recommended. The last two versions of the following browsers are supported: Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and Apple Safari for Mac OS X (macOS). The following mobile browsers are supported: Safari (iOS 7.0+), Google Chrome and Android Browser (Android 4.0+).