EBSCO's Academic Search Premier--Search for your topic in 8,000+ scholarly journals and magazines. Covers all academic subjects.

All EBSCO databases--along with the multi-disciplinary Academic Search Premier, EBSCO has specialized databases for business, literature, and religion topics, as well as a general, non-academic database.

ProQuest's Newspapers--Search for your topic in 500+ newspapers.  Includes full text for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

All ProQuest databases--choose from databases covering issues in criminal justice, education, religion, or psychology.

Choose from all Fitzgerald Library Databases

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Best Information on the Net--from St. Ambrose University, this site contains links to credible Internet materials for research organized as "Hot Paper Topics," "Resources by Major," and other useful categories.

Ethics Updates--links to sites that examine controversial issues from an ethical perspective

Human Rights in the US and the International Community--from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, covers international human rights controversies, background on the issues, weblinks, lesson plans.

Multnomah County Library--quality links for students researching current social issues from multiple perspectives, topic ideas here.

National Debate Tournament--lists National Debate Tournament topics from 1946 to current.  Get ideas for topics here.

openDemocracy--features debates on current topics. Choose from the "Themes" menu on the left side of the screen for pro con debates on a variety of issues. Here is how the developers of the site describe their purpose: "We cover the key questions of our time with contributions from renowned authors and marginalized voices. We publish clarifying debates which help people make up their own minds. We use the web to build and map intelligent discussions, which we accumulate and expand daily."

Public Agenda--"For over a quarter of a century, Public Agenda has been providing unbiased and unparalleled research into what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. Nonpartisan and nonprofit, Public Agenda was founded by social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in 1975. Public Agenda's two-fold mission is to help American leaders better understand the public's point of view and to ensure that citizens know more about critical policy issues so they can make thoughtful, informed decisions."

ProCon.org--"is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation whose purpose is to inform the public about controversial issues using facts, news, and hundreds of diverse opinions in a pro-con format."

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 Government Websites

Portal Sites 

• GPO Access
  "GPO Access is a service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government."
• USA.gov
  Official portal for government services and information.

• National Endowment for the Arts
  
• Minnesota State Arts Board

Education

• Department of Education U.S.
• Digest of Educational Statistics--A compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest includes a selection of data from many sources, both government and private, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
• ERIC  
  Sponsored tby he U.S. Department of Education, ERIC  "produces the world's premier database of journal and non-journal education literature.
  
• Minnesota Department of Education

Health and Human Services

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  Website for the public health agency known as the CDC that works to prevent and control infectious and chronic diseases, injuries, workplace hazards, disabilities, and environmental health threats including terrorism.  Site provides access to research over a wide range of health and safety issues. 
• The CDC is one of the components of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, whose website also provides good information on health issues, as well as information about services for children and families, Medicare and Medicaid, issues of aging, and much more.
• FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  Another part of the Health and Human Services Department, the FDA provides information on food and drug safety and includes materials on cosmetics and medical devices.  Look for the Hot Topics list.
• Household Products Database
  From the National Library of Medicine, information about the chemical ingredients in specific brands, health effects and toxicity data for products, and more.
  

• Thomas
  "In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, legislative information from the Library of Congress"

• Science.gov
  "Science.gov is a search engine for government science information and research results. Currently in its fourth generation, Science.gov provides search of more than 50 million pages of science information with just one query, and is a gateway to over 1,800 scientific Web sites (see Science.gov fact sheet)."
  

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  

U.S. Census Bureau
Provides "quality data about the nation's people and economy."  Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce

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Reference librarians are available to aid you in your research in the Reference Room (507-457-1562) and on-line at e-mail a librarian

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