Research Guides: Public Policy & Administration: Government Research

Government Research

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources with an interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Vendor Lyrasis. Publisher LexisNexis.
Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Although typically a legal database, you can track legislative history through this database as well.
Includes:
- Current and archival coverage of newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, wires, and trade journals.
- Company Investigator, an authoritative source for researching and gaining insight on more than 30 million public and private companies.
- Topical categories to refine searches and obtain more precise results.
- Expert analysis from hundreds of law reviews and journals, encyclopedias, and treatises.
- Full-text legislation, regulations, and court decisions.
- Integrated research tools, such as template searching, headnotes, case synopses, West Key Number System®, KeyCite®, and hypertext linking to related documents.

National Conference for State Legislators
The nation's most respected bipartisan organization providing states support, ideas, connections and a strong voice on Capitol Hill.

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
The CQ Researcher Plus Archive explores a single “hot” issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology. There are 44 reports produced each year including four expanded reports.
HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new window
Covers U.S. Government, Politics & Law. Provides comprehensive coverage of U.S. statutory materials, U.S. Congressional publications, and more than 2,400 scholarly journals. Also has subject specialized databases, such as, Gun Regulation and Legislation in America.
Contains thousdand of law-related journals on a variety of subjects, all dating back to inception with over 90% available through the current issue or volume. Subject related collections are often curated & made available.
Homeland Security Digital Library This link opens in a new window
This collection is related to homeland security policy and strategy. It provides quick access to important U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents as well as specialized resources such as theses and research reports from various universities, organizations, and local and state agencies.
The HSDL is part of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense & Security & is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1941-1996 This link opens in a new window
The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) began in 1941 as the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from select foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Accordingly, it provides a wealth of information from countries outside of the U.S. and insights into the second half of the 20th century. Distribution of the FBIS Daily Reports ended in 1996.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources with an interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Vendor Lyrasis. Publisher LexisNexis.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Congressional Publications provides comprehensive access to United States legislative information.
Readex AllSearch This link opens in a new window
FBIS Daily Reports, 1941-1996 constitutes a one-of-a-kind archive of transcripts of foreign broadcasts and news that provides fascinating insight into the second half of the 20th century. Many of these materials are firsthand reports of events as they occurred. Digitized from original paper copy and high-quality microfilm, this definitive online collection features full-text transcripts from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, China, Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the Soviet Union. Fully searchable for the first time, this unique digital collection features individual bibliographic records for each report and highlighted events to assist researchers.
Note: After using Readex AllSearch to discover relevant documents across a range of collections, some users may find it effective to transition their research to the specific Readex collection(s) in which such documents are found. These more focused collections are designed for deeper research of particular content types.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set This link opens in a new window
The U.S. Congressional Serial Set contains House and Senate Documents and House and Senate Reports bound by session of Congress. It began publication with the 15th Congress, 1st Session (1817). Documents before 1817 are found in the American State Papers. The Serial Set does not include Congressional hearings and debates.
The U.S. Congressional Serial Set is bound by session of Congress. It began publication with the 15th Congress, 1st Session (1817). Documents before 1817 are found in the American State Papers, which can be accessed via the A-Z Databases page. The Serial Set does not include Congressional hearings & debates.
House & Senate Reports are usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation & issues under investigation. They include all other papers ordered printed by the House or Senate. Documents cover a wide variety of topics & may include reports of executive departments & independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, & annual reports of non-governmental organizations. During the late 19th & early 20th centuries, Executive branch materials were also published in the Serial Set.
After 1994, GPO & the Library of Congress provide digital access to most of the continuing Serial Set materials.
It is possible to search the U.S. Congressional Serial Set Maps directly.
This collection can also be searched on Readex AllSearch, an integrated platform that combines Readex’s primary sources into a single cross-searchable interface.
Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new window
Although typically a legal database, you can track legislative history through this database as well.
Includes:
- Current and archival coverage of newspapers, magazines, broadcast transcripts, wires, and trade journals.
- Company Investigator, an authoritative source for researching and gaining insight on more than 30 million public and private companies.
- Topical categories to refine searches and obtain more precise results.
- Expert analysis from hundreds of law reviews and journals, encyclopedias, and treatises.
- Full-text legislation, regulations, and court decisions.
- Integrated research tools, such as template searching, headnotes, case synopses, West Key Number System®, KeyCite®, and hypertext linking to related documents.

National Journal
The National Journal provides daily analysis on Hill procedures and updates. In the Race Tracker section, you can track election poll data and campaign finance information. In the Almanac section, you can find biographies on politicians. The National Journal is an immensely rich resource that is worth exploring if you are looking for information on Congress.
Congress.gov
The website for U.S. government legislative information. Provides information on how the legislative process works. Has a section "Featured Topics and Cases" which lists court cases that relate to the Constitution.
govinfo (GPO)
A-Z listings of all documents from the United States Government Publishing Office.

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
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Has country profiles in addition to research related to business and marketing
Chatham House Online Archive This link opens in a new window
Publications & archives & audio recordings of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), the world-leading independent international affairs policy institute founded in 1920. (Coverage: 20th-21st centuries)
Key areas include: diplomacy & international relations, energy, environment & development, international economics, trade & business, international & national politics, international security & law, & global health security.
Columbia International Affairs Online This link opens in a new window
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) is a comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It includes a wide range of scholarship, such as working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, and proceedings from conferences. Each section of CIAO is updated with new material regularly. Working papers, conference proceedings, policy briefs, and economic indicators are augmented every month. Links and resources, the schedule of events, and the response files are updated weekly. New journal issues and books are added as they become available.
CIAO is divided into the following categories: working papers, conference proceedings, journals (i.e., abstracts of journal articles), books, policy briefs, economic indicators, links & resources, schedule of events, & maps & country data.
OECD iLibrary This link opens in a new window
Country studies, forecasting publications, periodicals, socio-economic reports as well as podcasts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development. Topics covered include agriculture, developing economies, education, employment, energy, the environment, migration, social issues, & sustainable development.
PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
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An index to the world’s public and social policy literature in the fields of business, economics, local and federal government, political science, international relations, finance, and other social sciences. Includes public policy literature in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish—periodicals, books, and government documents.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Statista is a statistics portal integrating over 80,000 diverse topics of data and facts from over 18,000 sources onto a single platform. You can find country profiles here as well that are frequently updated with new information.

UN iLibrary
The official library for the United Nations - it has speeches, reports, maps, and more.
CIA Factbook
The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.

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U.S. Government Information & Congressional Publications
by Kaitlyn Tanis Last Updated Apr 15, 2024 43 views this year