LibGuides: First-Year Writing Research Guide: Find Statistics and Government Documents

Statistics in Databases

Look in these library databases for statistics, including survey and demographic data, across a wide variety of topics.

Statista
Statista offers over 1 million statistics ranging across a myriad of social, economic, and market-related topics. Data may be exported in PPT, XLS, PDF, and PNG formats.
CQ Researcher
CQ Researcher reports cover a wide range of political and social issues, including topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy.
Europa World
Europa World covers political and economic information in over 250 countries and territories.

Statistics Websites

Visit these websites for reliable data about life and health in the United States and around the world.

Government Documents

A U.S. government document is defined as:

Any publication issued at government expense or published under the authority of a governmental body.
Included are official papers that record the actions or deliberations of government (Congressional Record), informational publications (statistical compilations of the Bureau of the Census), and reports of research done under government contract.
There are many ways to utilize government documents into your research paper. They are great to use as a primary source and cover most topics.

The United States Government, through the Government Printing Office (GPO) and its predecessor agencies has provided open access to much U.S. information since 1790.

Government Publishing Office

Visit the Government Documents Research Guide for librarian-curated information about finding and using government documents.

Government Documents Research Guide
by Amy Schindler Last Updated Jan 3, 2025 173 views this year

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