 Hi, today we're focusing on the importance of including multiple viewpoints in your research. Often when we go to write papers, we only include the sources that agree with us. However, our arguments are stronger when we address opposing viewpoints. When addressing the other side of an argument, we can use logic and reason to demonstrate why our argument is better than the alternative. This allows us to anticipate and address questions the opposition might have. This is important because our audience isn't always going to agree with us, so we need to make sure our papers fairly and accurately address all views. This helps us gain the trust of our audience. For example, if we are writing a persuasive essay arguing that college athletes should get paid, we need to address the opposing view that they should not get paid. To make our argument stronger, we need to ask ourselves some questions like, what are the arguments against paying college athletes? What are their justifications? One reason people argue that college athletes shouldn't get paid is that they already receive a substantial amount of money in the form of scholarships. Now that we understand a piece of the opposite viewpoint, we can agree that yes, many athletes do receive scholarships, but refute this argument by demonstrating the amount of money a college athletes bring to their institutions and their lack of equitable compensation. Beyond including opposing viewpoints, we need to make sure that we look at arguments from multiple perspectives. This means asking yourself, who has a stake in the argument? What areas of study would be interested in the research surrounding our topic? For example, if we're writing a paper about bullying in middle schools, we would want to include research from these areas of study, education, psychology, or family studies. We could also look for perspectives in the form of focus groups, case studies, or interviews with children, parents, or teachers. Including each of these perspectives ensures that we have looked at our topic from all sides and have a strong understanding of our issue. If you need help researching the opposing viewpoint or looking at multiple perspectives, ask a librarian.