PAP Orientation to Library Resources: Policy Research
Get Started Evaluating
Public policy is circular. As such, any evaluation of a policy's impact will need to reflect this circular nature. Look for:
- resources produced by advocacy organizations, think tanks, and watchdog groups. These may provide detailed analysis of policies and their impacts.
- Evaluative reports and statistics produced by government bodies that may have analyzed policy; and, finally,
- scholarly articles reporting research on policies, their impact, and implementations.
Advocacy Search Engines
- American Policy DirectoryAnalysis and advocacy on a wide range of topics derived from think-tanks and advocacy organization across the United States.
- Oregon Policy DirectoryUniversity of Oregon's Oregon Policy Directory points to numerous sites regarding Oregon Policy.
- IssueLabContains free access to case studies, evaluations, white papers, annual reports, issue briefs, and numerous other materials addressing the world's social problems that include aging, crime and safety, government reports, nonprofit and philanthropy, race and ethnicity, and transportation.
Search across Federal and State Websites
- USA.govThe USA.gov website allows you to search multiple federal and state agency website and reports.
- United States Government Accountability OfficeThe investigative arm of Congress. GAO exists to support the Congress in meeting its Constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the American people. GAO examines the use of public funds, evaluates federal programs and activities, and provides analyses, options, recommendations, and other assistance to help the Congress make effective oversight, policy, and funding decisions.
Scholarly Articles
- PAIS Index (Public Affairs Information Service)Covers public affairs, public and social policy, and international relations. Includes national and international journal articles, books, government documents, statistics, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, microfiche, and pertinent web sites.
- Worldwide Political Science AbstractsIndexes articles related to political institutions, international law and politics, public policy, public administration, political theory, and political economics. Indexes sources from 1975 to the present.
LiberGov Search
LiberGov Search is a custom Google Search created by Stanford University Libraries. It searches freely available, public domain government information from legislative and legislators' websites, social media accounts, NGOs, and news sources. For a full list of its contents visit LiberGov's documentation.