Library Home Page: Purpose of the Church Guided Research Project: 3. Current Events

Current Events in Your Country

In order to truly understand a country, it is important to know what is currently taking place in the country by locating and reading news and current events articles.

For each of the four articles (Newspaper article, Magazine article, Christian article, and Article from your country) described in the tabs:

Locate
Neatly photocopy or print-out the article to include in your notebook
Write at least one paragraph at least four sentences long in which you summarize the article and give the article's implications for world mission and ministry of the church

NOTES:

If you cannot find an article about your specific country, select a nearby country or search for the world region in which your country is located (i.e. Middle East).

The suggested time frames are suggestions. If the article you find is three months old instead of two months, the article is still acceptable. The important thing is to find an article for each requirement listed.

Keep in mind that articles about sports, holidays, and entertainment can be very useful in understanding the culture of a country. Likewise, articles reporting widespread unemployment or AIDS epidemics are important for planning appropriate ministry strategies.

Find one recent (within the last two months) newspaper article from a secular news organization, such as UPI (United Press International), Reuters News Service, or AP (Associated Press), whose stories are carried by major newspapers and radio stations all around the world, or any Internet news service of your choice.

To locate these newspaper articles utilize the following online databases:

Associated Press
Contains news articles written by Associated Press journalists stationed around the world.
Reuters
Contains news stories written by Reuters journalists stationed around the world.

MAS Ultra This link opens in a new window
Indexes and provides abstracts for 700 general interest magazines, 84,000 biographies, and 86,000 primary documents from 1975 to the present.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Newspapers, newswires, and transcripts of television and radio news programs with selected full text from 200 U.S. and international newspapers from 1995 to the presen

Find one recent article (within the last two years) from a secular journal or magazine. An internet news service or website does not qualify for this article.

To locate articles in secular journals or magazines, enter your country as a search term and then click Search in one of the following online databases:

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Complete indexes and abstracts over 13,690 scholarly journals and magazines dating from 1975 to the present with over 9,000 in full text. Academic Search Complete is useful for researching any subject.
MAS Ultra This link opens in a new window
Indexes and provides abstracts for 700 general interest magazines, 84,000 biographies, and 86,000 primary documents from 1975 to the present.
MasterFile Premier This link opens in a new window
Indexes and provides full text for nearly 1,700 periodicals, over 500 reference books, and many primary source documents.

Find one recent article (within the last three years) from a Christian journal or magazine such as:

Charisma & Christian Life: Monthly publication focusing on spirit-led living with frequent article describing how God is moving in foreign countries.

Christian Standard: A monthly publication from Standard Publishing featuring articles by Christian Church professors, ministers, and missionaries. Note: this publication was previously published on a weekly basis.

Christianity Today: Well-known monthly publication featuring articles on current issues from a Christian Perspective.

World: Weekly news magazine covering current events from an evangelical perspective.

Horizons: Monthly missions magazine featuring the work of Christian Church missionaries around the world.

Voice of the Martyrs: Publication focusing on the plight of persecuted Christians around the world. Registration is required to access the accompanying website.

Utilize your country as a search term in the following online database:

Christian Periodical Index This link opens in a new window
Christian Periodical Index indexes 130 journals which contain an evangelical Christian viewpoint from 1988 to the present. Limited full text is available from other EBSCOhost databases.

Obtain one recent news article (within the last year) from a news organization, newspaper, or magazine within your country. Neatly photocopy or print-out the article to include in your notebook. Write one paragraph summarizing the article and what you learned about your country.

To locate articles from the perspective of news organizations within your country use the following websites or databases:

Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Newspapers, newswires, and transcripts of television and radio news programs with selected full text from 200 U.S. and international newspapers from 1995 to the presen

World Press Online
Contains full text articles from the journal World Press Review which reprints newspaper and journal articles from around the world. May be browsed for feature articles or list of World Newspapers or searched by country.
Online Newspapers
Contains links to thousands of world newspapers organized by continent and country.