Universal Health Care: Understand
Your Topic

You probably already know a little something about the topic you chose, but it's important to find out more in order to write an intelligent research paper and/or make a good argument. 

Ask yourself:

• What do I know?
• What can I find out?

Reference resources help you find out more!

Library Research Guides lead you to the best resources to use when searching for information on your topic.

Always check to see if there's a Research Guide on your topic.

• Look up your keywords in the indexes to subject encyclopedias.

• Read articles in these encyclopedias to set the context for your research.

• Note relevant items in the bibliographies at the end of the encyclopedia articles.

• Additional background information may be found in your lecture notes, textbooks, and reserve readings.

Here are a few library resources to help you gather background information for your topic:

Reference Sources  

Once you have chosen a topic for your paper, use general reference sources to get background information on your topic. Reference books such as the encyclopedias, dictionaries and handbooks, and the current issue titles are a good starting point for your research because they help you become better acquainted with your topic.

See the lists below for some selected reference sources available online and in print. Ask a librarian if you need help finding more resources.

Online reference resources require login for off-campus use.  Enter your Cerritos College login when prompted.  For more login information see the Database Login page.

Here are some of the library's online reference resources which provide background information on your topic.  These resources are available on and off campus.

Here are some reference books that are located in the library's Reference area. Although they cannot be checked out, students are able to photocopy pages.

Although you probably started with only a broad idea of what you wanted to write about, after testing your topic and doing background reading you should be able to narrow your focus and write your thesis statement. Here are two examples of narrowing a broad topic to come up with a thesis statement:

Universal Health Care 

• A right to health care could make medical services affordable for everyone.
  • Universal health care would reduce health care costs for families, businesses, and the government in the long run, despite its relatively high cost of implementation
    • By ensuring that citizens and residents have access to affordable medical services, universal health care can improve overall public health by treating the sick, promoting preventative care, and providing basic care to all patients.

Universal Health Care 

• A right to health care could increase the US debt and deficit.
  • Providing government funded health care to all could increase federal spending. The cost of implementation would be many trillions of dollars that the country does not have.
    • Funding must come from somewhere and usually the burden of the cost falls on taxpayers. Typically, this means a rise in taxes and could cause payroll taxes to double.. In times of economic turmoil, this can be difficult for a people to sustain. If a nation wishes to pay for universal health care without raising taxes, other federally funded programs have to be cut. This creates the problem of prioritizing all the other programs that exist.