You are a resident of El Paso County, Texas. Pick a topic that you are concerned about or interested in. Write a 500 word letter to your civic leader (local city council member, city mayor, county commissioner, County Judge, State Representative or Senator, U.S. Representative or Senator(s), etc., wherein you express and defend your concern or solution on your chosen topic. Include a fact or two and describe what actions you would like your representative to take.
Your letter should:
a. Explain how this issue affects your community.
b. Suggest some actions/solutions that your representative should take concerning the issue.
c. Explain why you think your solution is the right way to address the problem.
d. Acknowledge what are the possible arguments against your proposition.
e. Respond to your critics with a counterargument.
Suggestions for topics: Abortion bans, gun safety/firearms/AR-15, minimum wage, immigration reform, opioids/fentanyl, election integrity, universal health care...
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In EDS (Ebsco Discovery Service) click on the words “hello guest” in the green bar at the top of the page. Login with your EPCC network username and password.
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints -- [Full Text | Gale]
Provides social issues viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles. Sources used are the Opposing Viewpoints Series from Greenhaven Press, as well as other Gale and Macmillan Reference USA core reference sources. Includes Lexile reading levels.
http://infotrac.galegroup.com
Credo Reference -- [Full text | Credo]
Credo is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and hundreds of videos.
https://search.credoreference.com
Use Access World News to view major Texas newspapers and also the Texas Monthly including daily digital updates. Click the A-Z sources link at the top of the page and type Texas Monthly.
A comprehensive news collection ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Its diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, and broadcast transcripts.Includes major Texas newspapers and Texas college and universities student newspapers
Full text coverage of El Paso Times and other historic El Paso newspapers from 1881 to the present. Articles from the most recent five days are excluded.
Provides full text for more than 1,700 general periodicals, some back as far as 1975. Covers general reference topics, business, education, health, general science, and multi-cultural issues. Features book reviews, nearly 500 full text reference books, biographies, 83,472 full text primary source documents, American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition and an Image Collection of photos, maps and flags.
http://search.ebscohost.com
Use Opposing Viewpoints database to find a recent event that interests you.
As you find information, jot down KEY TERMS that describe your topic to use in searches in other places.
SAVE or EMAIL or PRINT article with citation in style specified by your instructor. Note citation is at the bottom of the articles.
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