Research Guides: Social Work: Policy Research & News

Government Reports

USA.gov
Portal to government information and services. Powered by the Bing search engine, it searches federal, state, and local government websites. Browse by agency to find research reports and policy briefs on agency websites.
CRS Reports from the Library of Congress
Government Accountability Office (GAO) Reports
Reports discuss the efficiency, effectiveness, and cost-benefit of selected legislation. Browse by date and search by topic.
GovInfo
This U.S. Government Publishing Office website provides free access to a wide range of government publications and data from the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Contents include statutes, bills, regulations, budgets, congressional hearings and reports, congressional committee materials, Supreme Court and federal court cases. Similar documents can be found within ProQuest Congressional and HeinOnline databases.

Listing of what is available at govinfo and links to other legislative, executive and judicial process resources. The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP), a finding tool for government publications (from July 1976 -present), includes records for print and content available on govinfo and links to govinfo for access to these publications

HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
HeinOnline is an online product with pages of legal history available in an online, fully-searchable, image-based format. HeinOnline provides coverage from law and law-related periodicals. It also contains the Congressional Record Bound volumes in entirety, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Proquest Congressional provides access to the full text of congressional working papers and legislation, a wide variety of information about Congress, including member biographical and committee assignment information, voting records, financial data, and the full text of the Congressional Record.

United States Government Manual
Look up information on agencies of the legislative, judicial and executive branches. Also includes information on international organizations in which the United States participates, boards, commissions and committees.

Agency and Think Tank Reports

Think Tanks, advocacy organizations, and foundations often provide policy research reports. These can be found in databases, and on individual organization websites.

American Policy Directory
Links to think tank and advocacy group websites by topic via University of Oregon Libraries
Harvard Kennedy School Think Tank Search
Think Tank Search searches the websites of institutions that generate public policy research, analysis, and activity. These sites are affiliated with universities, governments, advocacy groups, foundations, and non-governmental organizations.
Policy Commons
Note: This is the free version of Policy Commons.
Policy Commons offers access to over a million policy documents from thousands of IGOs, NGOs, research centers and think tanks. Includes the digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research previously known as PolicyArchive.

Policy File Index This link opens in a new window
Policy File Index is a resource for U.S. public policy research. Users are able to access timely, updated information from over 350 public policy think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, research institutes, university centers, advocacy groups, and other entities.

Media Sources

CQ Weekly This link opens in a new window
CQ Weekly contains weekly reports on Congress, White House, and every federal agency. CQ Weekly includes an archive dating back to 1983.
US Newsstream (formerly ProQuest Newsstand) This link opens in a new window
U.S. Newsstream features newspapers, newswires, blogs, and news sites dating back to 1980. Some titles include: Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.
Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
NexisUni (formerly Lexis Nexis) offers full-text access to content from more than 15,000 news, legal and business sources.

Register for access to the New York Times Online
Temple faculty, staff, and students can register for access using their @temple.edu email address. More information at New York Times guide
Finding Newspapers (TU library research guide)
Lists more databases and sources to find contemporary and historical newspapers, general, and by subject and location.

Legislative History & Policy Guides

Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Beginner’s Guide
Library of Congress' comprehensive research guide on finding federal legislative history documents, including congressional committee reports and hearings, presidential signing statements, and the debates of Congress.
Legislative History Research Guide (Temple)
Public Policy

Books

Systemic Racism in America by Rashawn Ray (Editor); Hoda Mahmoudi (Editor)
ISBN: 9781000548693
Publication Date: 2022-03-30
This book situates our contemporary moment within a historical framework and works to identify forms, occurrences, and consequences of racism as well as argue for concrete solutions to address it. The book is organized into three parts to explore and explain the ways in which racism persists, permeates, and operates within our society. The first part presents theoretical perspectives to analyze the roots and manifestation of contemporary racism; the second concentrates on educational inequality and structural issues within our institutions of learning that have led to stark racial disparities; and the third and final section focuses on solutions to our current state and how people, regardless of their race, can advocate for racial equity.