Politics & Government Sources

Government Facts

• GovInfo.gov
  Comprehensive database of US federal publications from the last 15 years, including legislation, directories, court opinions, etc. This is where you can find all kinds of Congressional Records, the Supreme Court Decisions, the U.S. Budget, and much more. 
• 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.
• 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."
   

News Reports

• Google News Search 
  Good for finding recent news; not so good for anything more than a year or two old. 
• Primary Sources Guide: Newspapers & Magazines
  This guide links to a large number of sources for doing historical newspaper research. This is best used if you are looking for historical news pieces.

Population, Economy & Health Statistics

• U.S. Census Data
  Use the tools here to find population data, broken down by age, gender, race, socio-economic status, etc. from the federal level down to a specific zip code.
• 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. 
• Native Americans: "Fast Facts" from the U.S. Census (2015)
• Special U.S. Census Report on the Homeless (2010)
  "The Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population: 2010" includes statistics on people living in shelters, broken down by age, race, etc. 
• Statistical Abstract of the United States (1889-2011)
  This was an annual publication that compiled key facts about the U.S. population, economy, etc. each year. This is a great source to look at if you want to show how something like income or demographics changed over time. 
   

Crime, Policing, etc. Statistics

• Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
  Federal corrections, crime, and court statistics collected by U.S. government bodies. Includes a lot of information about prison/jail populations. 
• Campus Security & Safety Statistics
  Statistics related to university/college campus crime and safety. You can look up reported data for specific schools, including Pacific University. 
• Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS)
  Includes four sets of government-compiled data: "The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the Summary Reporting System (SRS), the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program, and the Hate Crime Statistics Program."
• "Mapping Police Violence"
  A site using crowdsourced data to document/map killings by police. See the "about" section for more info on their data. 
• National Institute on Drug Abuse: Trends & Statistics
• List of more U.S. national statistics sources on crime and other social issues

Environmental Statistics

• Guide to US & International Environmental data sources by Princeton University Library
  This guide provides a large set of links into data sources for the U.S. and the world (see sidebar: International). 

More techniques

• Google "White Paper" Reports on Special Topics
  When an organization presents its research and recommendations on a topic of current interest, these are often called "White Papers." These are very often full of factual sources. You do however need to be wary of bias; a health insurance provider, for example, is likely to issue white papers that favor private insurance when talking about health care, for example. 
  Samples: 
  Google search for: White Papers on Health Insurance
  Google search for: White Papers on Homelessness
  Google search for: White Papers on Air Pollution
• Check the "References" Section under your topic in Wikipedia
  Wikipedia is a great way to get an overview of the broad issues on a political topic. However, because anyone can edit it, it can be seen as unreliable or biased. It's better to use Wikipedia as a preliminary discovery tool, and then dive into the sources that are cited within it for your actual research. Look at the bottom of the Wikipedia page for "References"; see if you can get to the original sources. 
  Sample: 
  Wikipedia page on Homelessness in the United States: References Section