WR121 Genres
Thinking about sources
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Find a variety of information to learn about a topic.Sources are helpful for research, but only as much as the information or evidence included within the source is useful for your purposes.
You can think about the source itself -- whether a news piece, a book chapter or a website -- as the CONTAINER for the information or evidence.
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Like the jar in this picture, sources are only as good as their contents, and selecting what’s most useful depends on what’s inside.
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Tailor evidence to your audience
In order to effectively persuade your audience in an open letter or op-ed, you must support your claims and arguments with evidence from outside sources in addition to using personal experience.
To find convincing evidence, consider what kinds of information and sources would be most convincing to your audience. What do they already know? What do they care about? Whose voices are compelling to them? See "Tailoring an Argument to an Audience" for great guidance on this process.
This page provides guidance on where to look for different types of evidence based on your audience analysis.
Find a variety of voices and perspectives in the news
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Alt-PressWatch This link opens in a new windowA full text collection of newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press. View the Alt-Press Watch handout.
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Ethnic Newswatch This link opens in a new windowFull text newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic minority and native press. Provides a rich collection of articles, editorials, and reviews with a broad diversity of perspectives and viewpoints. Also a good source of ethnic recipes. Coverage is from 1980 to the present. View the Ethnic NewsWatch handout
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New York Times onlinePCC students can sign up for full access to the New York Times on NYTimes.com. Once you have set up your subscription, you can go directly to NYTimes.com and sign in using your personal account.
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Get started with the New York TimesGo to "Get Started with the New York Times Online" to set up your NYTimes.com subscription through PCC Library.
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US Major Dailies This link opens in a new windowFull text newspapers from five U.S. national and regional newspapers: New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune
Find published informed opinions and analysis
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EBSCOhost This link opens in a new windowSearch from a wide range of research databases for magazine and journal articles. Updated daily. View the EBSCOhost handout
Mobile URL: EBSCOhost Mobile -
Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new windowAcademic OneFile is a starting point for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. Covering the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects, it contains millions of articles available in full-text. Includes full-text New York Times content from 1995 to present.
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Opposing Viewpoints (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new windowA one-stop source for information on current social issues. Includes viewpoint articles on both sides of an issue, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full text magazine and newspaper articles. View the Opposing Viewpoints tutorial
Data repositories & Research institutes
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Center for American ProgressThe Center for American Progress is an independent, progressive, nonpartisan policy institute dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans.
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Gallup PollCurrent polls and research on a wide variety of topics. They often track polling responses over time, so you can see shifts in public opinion.
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PEW Research CenterPew Research Center is an independent center that conducts polls and studies. Social issues and technology focused.
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Portland Metro and Oregon Research: Data and statisticsSupport for research about local issues, places, laws, people, history, and more.
Find stories of personal experience and get expert testimony
Talk to people you know. Reaching out to people in your personal, college or work life circles is a great way to start. Use your social media connections, too.
News and social media. Find trending stories and interviews with people who have first hand experience.
TED Talks. TED Talks are an example of where experts might be sharing viewpoints based on their experience.
Interviews. Call or email an expert to ask for an interview. Find contact information for experts who you discover by looking them up on LinkedIn or just Google them.