Great Web sites to help with academic writing:

TMCC Tutoring and Learning Center – this is your local source for help in all academic subjects.
General Writing Resources at the OWL (Purdue University). These great, concise resources help you navigate the writing process.
Here are academic writing tips and how to formulate a thesis. The library has a set of links to help you cite your work as well.

Search strategies:

Break the Topic Questions into pieces, based on the key part of the question. Use similar words, and incorporate keywords or subject headings that you discover in search results. For example, search alcohol and advertising, disobey and law, equal pay for equal work (a subject heading in EBSCO), and military draft for Question 5 (draft being the common term for conscription).

View this PowerPoint Tutorial for clues on searching EBSCO and then contact the library at 775-674-7602 if you need help. Be sure to tell us what question you are researching.

Sources of material:

Library books – the TMCC library has hundreds of books covering many of Dr. Paul’s topics. Search our Book Catalog to see what we have.
Databases – the majority of your sources will be found in Library databases. We have full-text access to over 150,000 e-books and thousands of academic journals. ALL of the databases have citations included for each article. You will need these database passwords to get the content off-campus.
If you have questions on searching, call the Reference Desk at 775-674-7602. Call or email John Fitzsimmons, Reference Librarian, if you want personalized help - 775-674-7609.

Start with CQ Researcher or Issues & Controversies. These databases are great for background information and often statistics.

For political science classes, your best bets in EBSCO are Academic Search Premier, MasterFILE Premier, the eBook Collection, and Political Science Complete. But do not hesitate to search other collections, depending on your topic – include Business Source Elite for the women and pay or the minimum wage questions, for example.

Sample Articles for the Questions:

Ban on Advertising

Search alcohol and advertising as an example

Alcohol Advertising (CQ Researcher) – background, debate, statistics.

Lower Drinking Age

Search underage drinking and legislation (this finds articles about federal and state laws regarding drinking)

It’s Time to let Teenagers Drink Again (EBSCO magazine article)

Will Increasing Alcohol Availability By Lowering the Minimum Legal Drinking Age Decrease Drinking and Related Consequences Among Youths? (EBSCO journal article)

Holocaust Denial

Six Questions On (or About) Holocaust Denial (EBSCO journal article)

Don’t forget about physical library books, if you can get on campus!

Breaking the Law

Search EBSCO for disobey and law AND/OR selective disobedience

A Mandate to Disobey (EBSCO journal)

Mandatory Military Conscription

Hint – search military conscription (or draft) AND united states in EBSCO

The Call Up (EBSCO journal article about conscription and counter-terrorism)

Term Limits on the Supreme Court

There’s more than you would think on this topic. Search term limits and justice and supreme court for the best results.

A Case for Supreme Court Term Limits? (EBSCO journal article)

Statutory Rape Laws

Try searching statutory rape and fairness – that gets lots of results

Enforcing statutory rape? (EBSCO journal article)

Women and Earnings

Search CQ Researcher for pay equality for background

Search EBSCO for equal pay for equal work – great results!

Pay Equity Overview is a great article to start with

Federal Minimum Wage

Lots of debate on this topic! Start with CQ Researcher. Search EBSCO for maximum wage AND debate and also minimum wage and debate.

Case for a Maximum Wage (EBSCO article)

Affirmative Action Programs

Best background is in Issues & Controversies – Affirmative Action: Are Affirmative Action Programs Necessary…

Also search EBSCO for affirmative action and debate