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Politics & Government Junior Seminar (POLS 399)

Sources for research papers in Politics and Government

Suggested Sources for Primary Sources

This page provides links to original, or "primary" sources relating to political science. NOTE: You probably won't use these for a literature review or for annotated bibliographies! You will need them, though, for other sections of your research papers. 

General Guide into Primary Sources

  • Primary Source Guide
    This guide covers how to find many types of primary sources, including historic news and magazines, archival documents, oral histories, historical maps, historical images, etc. 
     

Government Facts, Legislation, etc. 

  • Oregon Blue Book
    The "Official State Fact Book about all levels of government in Oregon." Describes the duties of all state agencies, offices, etc.; provides links to Legislation; etc. Current info is online. For old facts (like, what committees existed in 1972, etc.) we have old printed Blue Books in the library. Similar sources exist for other U.S. states.
     
  • GovInfo
    Comprehensive database of U.S. federal publications. This is especially complete for recent (post-2000) federal publications, but it includes a lot of historical publications as well, including Congressional debates, legislation, directories, court opinions, etc. 
     
  • Congressional Record, 1873-2017
    Need to find out how a piece of federal legislation passed through Congress pre-2017? This site (which is actually a sub-set of GovInfo, listed above), will let you search or browse through the published records of the US Senate & House of Representatives. 
     
  • United States Government Manual
    Official handbook describes the function, structure, etc. of the parts of the federal government, such as the Department of Education, the U.S. Court of Appeals, etc.
     
  • U.S. Election Statistics: A Resource Guide
    Compilation of links to many different sources of stats on elections.
     
  • World Factbook
    Authoritative statistics about countries around the world, compiled by the CIA. "Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities."
     
  • US National Archives (NARA)

    This is THE archival repository of the U.S. federal government: It is where federal agencies including the State Department, the Department of the Interior, the Army, the Navy (etc., etc.) deposit their records. Most of this material is not digitized, unfortunately, but it will at least tell you whether records exist and where they are located. If you need help finding material in this database, email: archives@pacificu.edu for advice. 

  • National Security Archive

    A database of declassified documents! This is one place to look if you want to know about what the CIA has been doing in Latin America for the last fifty years. "The National Security Archive’s holdings total 8-10 million pages of declassified documents. A growing number of these materials are published or posted online every year."

  • More Links into Government Sources: See our Guide to Government Docs
     

News Reports

 

Demographics and other Statistics 

  • U.S. Census Data
    The official government web site for researching recent Census data. Note: this data is depersonalized, meaning that you can research statistics about groups of people, but you cannot drill down into data about specifically named people. If you want historical census data from 1950 and earlier that DOES include names, addresses, and other personal information, check Ancestry.com > US Federal Census.
     
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
    Includes facts about employment, joblessness, average wages broken down by region, and more. 
     
  • County Health Rankings
    Includes reports ranking each US county. This site provides facts such as the percentage of people in each county who suffer from poor physical activity, long commutes, "severe housing problems," unemployment, etc. 
     
  • CDC Fast Facts
    The Centers for Disease Control's "Fast Facts" site has statistics on a large range of public health issues, including statistics related to specific age groups (children, older people, etc.), Suicide rates (see under "Injuries"), etc. 
     
  • Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) by HUD, 2014-present
    "The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) is a HUD report to the U.S. Congress that provides nationwide estimates of homelessness, including information about the demographic characteristics of homeless persons, service use patterns, and the capacity to house homeless persons."
     
  • Native Americans: Compilation of Census Data / Reports
    This page, maintained by Census.gov, links into special reports and sources of data on Native American populations. 
     
  • List of more U.S. national statistics sources on crime and other social issues