When starting out, for foundational information on a topic, try a reference collection such as Gale E-Books, which contains various encyclopedias and dictionaries. Once you've picked a topic and found some background information, it's time to decide your point of view on the topic. It may be helpful to refine your essay's thesis, or main argument, but focusing in on one particular aspect of an issue. For example, if your topic is climate change, you could center your argumentative essay on the role corporations play in fighting climate change.
Argumentative essays include the opposing viewpoint to yours along with facts that support the counter claim. The foundational information sources will often include both pros and cons on an issue but if you're having trouble identifying the counter claim. Here are some questions to consider:
Gale Opposing Viewpoints and CQ Researcher are both good databases for researching viewpoint articles on current topics. These databases are organized to make it easier to find peer-reviewed articles on the pros and cons of topics.
Once you have some background, or foundational, information on a topic, it's time to start researching. Keywords are the words, or phrases, used when exploring OneSearch or other LACC databases. Think of keywords as #hashtags for your topic: the same way hashtags describe the main point of a post, keywords capture the most important elements of your thesis.
To come up with keywords for your topic, it's helpful to list out synonyms for the main topic subject. For example, if your topic is about the corporate response to climate change, additional keywords could be: business, economic and environment.
Using synonyms for keywords expands your search since not every author will refer to sports with the same exact word or phrase. Just like using multiple, similar, hashtags on Instagram or Twitter, using synonym keywords means your search will connect to a larger number of relevant articles.
Finding articles that support one side or the other of a topic can seem a bit tricky. Here are some argumentative writing keywords that may be helpful to use along with your topic keywords using the AND operator:
Remember, research is all about trial and error so don't worry if it takes a few tries to get the search results you need. If you're not sure which database to start with, try using Academic Search Complete, it's a multidisciplinary database with academic journals, newspapers, and magazines on a variety of topics.