Skip to Main Content

Pro/Con, Position Papers or Debates

This guide is intended to help students research Position Paper (Pro/con) or Debate topics. Get help finding authoritative book, article and statistical sources to support your arguments.

Brainstorm Keywords!

Brainstorming keywords is an important part of the research process. As you begin to look at your search results take note of any new keywords that are relevant and incorporate those into your next search. 

Think about using BROADER terms to get more results, and NARROWER terms to retrieve fewer results. Follow the tips on the "Search Tips" guide to combine your search terms and BUILD searches to achieve best results. 

Possible keywords to get you started are listed below.  How many more can you think of?

  • pro/con
  • viewpoint*
  • controvers*
  • argument*
  • editorial*
  • perspectiv*

If you were researching the abortion for example, you might search (abortion AND controver*)

Search for Books & Book Chapters

You can use the Library Search to find many books and other materials such as streaming film, online government publications, and more. 

Searching for Ebooks

Can't make it into the library or want to see all of the options available to you? Try looking at some of our Ebook collections! Some of these books are discoverable in the catalog, but others can only be discovered by searching the databases themselves. Here are some of the best bet places to look for ebooks:

WorldCat Catalog -- Search for books beyond Bentley

Search for resources beyond the Bentley Library Collection using Worldcat. You can use the Bentley Library's Interlibrary Loan system to retrieve books, articles and even DVDs.