Skip to Main Content
It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

ENC 1102 (Spottke) - Issues : Home

Assignment

Forbidden Sources

·           Stay away from General Encyclopedias (you can use subject-specific encyclopedias, however. For instance, the Encyclopedia of Psychological             Disorders.

·           General Websites found doing searches on Google, Safari, etc. Valencia Database search is the O N L Y electronic search allowed. No Yahoo,             Google, About.com, and so on…

·         No works of fiction. This is non-fiction (truth, bio, history, etc.) only! Not sure, ask!

·         No other databases other than Valencia’s.

·         No dictionaries

·         No abstracts, full text articles only

·         No book reviews. If there is a price listed, that would be a book review. Again, if you are not sure, ask.

Logging In

Some of the resources on this page require logging in.

Login to Atlas

Go to the Courses tab.

Click on Search the Library.

OR

Use your VID number as your Borrower ID (include the V).

(If you have a pre-2008 ID, use the 14 digit number on the back of your Valencia ID instead.)

Use the last 4 digits of your VID number as the PIN.

Selecting a Topic

For this paper you are exploring an issue that exists within some group with which you are involved, so to select a topic, you could approach this one of two ways:


Brainstorms groups that you belong to (and then think of a related issue):

For this approach, consider

  • your relationships: are you a parent, a friend, a son or daughter, spouse, pet owner, co-worker?
  • your hobbies: do you garden, cosplay, fish, knit? Are you into fantasy football?
  • your job: are you a waitress? a minimum-wage employee at a theme park? an executive assistant?
  • transportation: are a pedestrian? a car driver? a bus rider?
  • technology: do you use Microsoft Word? do you shop online? are you addicted to your smartphone?

So if you're a parent, the issue might be child care. If you are a gardener, the issue might be saving water. If you are a minimum-wage employee, it might be raising the minimum wage. If you are a waitress, it might be rude customers. If you drive, it might be traffic congestion. If you're taking this class, you are definitely a student, and there are issues related to that, too. Maybe you have trouble with time management or note-taking.

A second approach is to consider issues first.

If you do that, don't forget to connect the issue to a group you belong to! Here are some databases that talk about different issues.

West Campus Librarians

The Valencia College libraries do not welcome solicitation of resources to be added to our LibGuides. This includes but is not limited to vendors, search engine optimizers, placement of ads, products, or any other requests. Our LibGuides are carefully curated resources developed in partnership with faculty, staff, and students to support specific assignments, courses, events, and other related purposes at Valencia College. The Valencia libraries reserve the right to ignore LibGuide resource solicitations, and/or block persistent requests from groups or individuals to add or promote links in our LibGuides.