LibGuides: Political Sciences: Public Policy

Public Policy / Federal, State, Local Government

See also Burke Library list of discipline-specific databases

For example Education, Health, Environment, Business, etc.

SocINDEX This link opens in a new window
SocINDEX is a sociology research database that database features more than 2.1 million records. There are over 1,300 core journals with coverage from 1895 - present.
Opposing Viewpoints: Gale In Context This link opens in a new window
Points of View Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window

GovInfo
Searchable, free access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Compilation of Presidential Documents
Documents appearing in the Compilation of Presidential Documents collection are edited for accuracy and annotated with additional information to provide an authoritative record of the Presidency. It includes such material as: proclamations, Executive orders, speeches, press conferences, communications to Congress and to Federal agencies. Also includes statements regarding bill signings and vetoes.
Appointments, nominations
Public Papers of the Presidents
Each volume contains the papers and speeches of the President of the United States that were issued by the Office of the Press Secretary. To ensure accuracy, remarks have been checked against a tape recording. Signed documents have been checked against the original. Volumes from Herbert Hoover to present may be found in print at J 80 .A283 [Floor 2]

U.S. Government Accountability Office Reports and Testimony (GAO)

Congressional Research Service Reports

Congressional Budget Office Reports and Analyses

Electronic Titles, Catalog of U.S. Government Publications

How to Use a Congressional Hearing

Policy Areas

Reports on Federal, State, and Local Governments (Census Bureau, searchable)

Alabama House of Representatives, Senate

Legislature

Supreme Court Review

Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window

Supreme Court Review. University of Chicago Law School. (1965-2009) Print. KF 8748. S8 Fl. 2

Use Nexis-UNI Guided Search for Legal Codes, Court Cases, and Law Reviews

U.S. Government open data (data, tools, and resources to conduct research by topic)

Data.gov

U.S. Census Bureau (Meta-site for data of all types)

Statistics By Topic

Crime and Criminal Justice

FBI Crime Reporting Program

produced from data received from over 18,000 city, university/college, county, state, tribal,
and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating in the program

Crime in the United States

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics

Education

National Center for Educational Statistics

Health

National Center for Health Statistics

Immigration
Homeland Security https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics

Core reports on immigrants by legal status. Also quantitative studies and research on immigration.

Supplemental Assistance, etc.

SNAP - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture)

TANF - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (Office of the Administration for Children and Families)

Laws, Policy, Data, Reports

Five must know subject headings for the SHC Discovery Library online system:

1. [topic] AND Law and legislation

example: Immigration Law and legislation

example: Firearms Law and legislation

2. [topic] AND Government policy

example: Marijuana Government policy United States

example: Working poor Government policy

example: Pollution Government policy

3. [topic] AND Political aspects

example: Immigration Political aspects

4. [topic] AND Public opinion

example: Income inequality Public opinion

5. [topic] AND Statistics

example: Health insurance coverage Statistics

Immigration and Asylum

Sample searches

Undocumented immigrants

DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)

Children of immigrants

Social work with immigrants

Immigrants and Human rights

Policy, Law and Legislation

Emigration and immigration Government policy

Right of asylum (United States)

Immigration Political aspects

Immigration law United States

Public opinion on US Immigration policy

Reports and hearings of US Congress House and Senate Committees on Immigration

Poverty

Social conditions of the poor in the United States

Urban poor in the United States

Inner cities in the United States

Federal Entitlement Programs (The "Green Book")

Poverty data from the U.S. Census

Criminal Justice

National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)

Immigration

Health

Environment

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage

In the Courts

Catholic Social Services vs. City of Philadelphia (at issue: religious grounds for refusing to place foster children in same-sex homes)

Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, 2020 U.S. LEXIS 961

Separated: Children at the Border
What happened to immigrant children separated from their parents at the U.S. border
Understanding the Opiod Epidemic
"Understanding the Opioid Epidemic combines stories of people and communities impacted by this epidemic along with information from experts and those at the frontlines of dealing with the epidemic."