ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 10, 2009 - For over 35 years, ProQuest’s SIRS® resources have included the best, most relevant information to encourage dialogue and critical thinking about global and societal issues – making it the leader in social issues research.  Today, ProQuest is introducing SIRS® Issues Researcher, an editorially-structured resource designed to explore the context, perspectives, and essential questions under debate on hundreds of pro/con issues.

SIRS Issues Researcher draws together illuminating content selected from more than 1,700 global full-text and multimedia sources.  This provides users with the tools to establish fundamental understanding and frame informed viewpoints.  High quality graphics and websites, and videos also promote visual and media literacy.

“The study of social issues—whether for research papers, debate, presentations, or other projects—is centrally important across curricula in secondary schools, community colleges, and undergraduate survey courses,” said Barb Beach, vice president of publishing for ProQuest.  “And the importance grows as more educators place emphasis on multicultural and global awareness, critical thinking skills, and digital information literacy.  ProQuest is committed to providing resources like SIRS Issues Researcher that directly support all of these needs.”

SIRS Issues Researcher is specifically designed to promote meaningful “21st-century learning” by engaging students in current events and important social issues.  Key features include:
•  “Leading Issues,” which displays information critical to understanding the issues most studied and debated.
• “Pro/Con” section, which structures the content for more than 300 issues, helping students to see the varying points‐of‐view from multiple sources.
• “Essential Questions,” which support critical thinking by helping students identify the core issues under debate. 
• Opinion polls, based on actual student input, which bring forward issues in context and place students into the debate.

The interface of SIRS Issues Researcher includes textual and visual searches that help users choose a topic, see relationships across ideas, and understand the context for the issues. Users can connect to online tools for social bookmarking, note organization, article translation, and start-to-finish research help.

SIRS Issues Researcher is an “actively managed” social issues database.  ProQuest editors scaffold the information to illustrate the range and breadth of topics, review and bring forward key content, and maintain the entries for timeliness and relevance.  Entries contain both current coverage and historical perspective, and display the cross-curricular connections across topics.  Editorial oversight also helps students’ select appropriate topics and provides educators with a resource matched to national and state learning standards. 

For more information on the new SIRS Issues Researcher visit http://www.proquestk12.com/landings/issues.shtml