Home - ENGL 101 - Craane - Unjust Laws - Research Guides at Modesto Junior College Library

Sources to Help with Picking a Topic

Issues & Controversies This link opens in a new window This is a great database to use when you want to explore different viewpoints on controversial or hot-button issues. It includes reports on more than 800 hot topics in business, politics, government, education, and popular culture. Use the search or browse topics by subject or A to Z.

World Report 2023: Human Rights Watch
A report on laws throughout the world (choose a country from the menu)
Heritage Foundation
Click "Explore Issues" for a menu of topics from a conservative perspective
Issues: Southern Poverty Law Center
Civil rights legal activism

Get more ideas from these MJC Library Research Guides:

Systemic Racism
Migration from Central America
Gun Control
Abortion
California Ballot Propositions 2022
Solutions to Oppression (current movements in reaction to oppression throughout the world)

Start with Background Reading

Use the Gale eBooks database (link is below) to find short overview articles on topics related to your research.

Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. You'll learn about your topic by reading authoritative topic overviews on a wide variety of subjects.

MJC Encyclopedias on Legal Issues
Explore these specialty encyclopedias, all available as Gale eBooks

Database for good background articles on U. S. topics

CQ Researcher Online This link opens in a new window This is the resource for finding original, comprehensive reporting and analysis to get background information on issues in the news. It provides overviews of topics related to health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy in America.

Database for good background articles on international topics

Gale In Context: Global Issues This link opens in a new window Use this database when you want to explore your topic from a global perspective or to analyze and understand the most important issues of the modern world with a global awareness. You'll find news, global viewpoints, reference materials, country information, primary source documents, videos, statistics, and more.

Recommended Databases for Further Research

Access World News This link opens in a new window
Search the full-text of editions of record for local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of key international sources. This is your source for The Modesto Bee from January 1989 to the present. Also includes in-depth special reports and hot topics from around the country.
To access The Modesto Bee, limit your search to that publication.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Use this database to find credible sources for topics in law, political science, and business. This is your source for law review articles and court cases.
Nexis Uni includes:
• Print and online journals, television and radio broadcasts,
newswires and blogs
• Local, regional, national and international newspapers
with deep archives
• Extensive legal sources for federal and state cases and
statutes, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions
since 1790
• Unparalleled business information on more than
80 million U.S. and international companies and more
than 75 million executives

View online tutorials here
EBSCOhost Databases This link opens in a new window
Search 22 databases simultaneously that cover almost any topic you need to research at MJC. EBSCO databases include articles previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.
Gale Databases This link opens in a new window
Search over 35 databases simultaneously that cover almost any topic you need to research at MJC. Gale databases include articles previously published in journals, magazines, newspapers, books, and other media outlets.

Recommended eBooks

Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court's Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America by Adam Cohen
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2020
Immigration Reform: A Reference Handbook by Michael C. LeMay
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2019
California Environmental Law and Natural Resources Handbook by Theda Braddock
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2019
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2020
Universal Healthcare by Claudio Buttice
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2019
Law and Justice Around the World: A Comparative Approach by Mikaila M. L. Arthur
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2020
Essential Supreme Court Decisions by John R. Vile
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2018

Meet Your Librarian

Susan Cassidy

she, her, hers

Email Me

Contact:

Get research help Mondays through Saturdays via Ask a Librarian.

My Fall 2023 Research Help Schedule:

IN-PERSON (East Campus L&LC) and ONLINE CHAT:
Mondays 9-11 am, 2-3 pm
Tuesdays 9-11 am
Wednesdays 3-4 pm
Thursdays 12-1 pm; 5-7 pm

ZOOM APPOINTMENTS:
Times vary!
Make an appointment by clicking the orange Schedule Appointment button above.

ZOOM OFFICE HOURS (email me for link):
Wednesdays 1-2 pm

EMAIL ME or contact me through the Canvas inbox for a response within 24 hours.

cassidys@mjc.edu
(209) 575-6807

Subjects: English

ENGL 101 - Craane - Unjust Laws: Home

Sources to Help with Picking a Topic

Start with Background Reading

Recommended Databases for Further Research

Recommended eBooks

Meet Your Librarian