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American Public Policy: Background (Broad articles)

Tools for researching American public policy and preparing research briefs.

Broad reports

GoogleGov: A Custom Search from ACULib

See the reports tab on the results page for especially good analysis:

CRS Reports: Congressional Research Service
Major research arm for Congress.  They provide policy, legislative, and legal analysis to congress regardless of party affiliation.  Exceptional analysis, very authoritative, and non-biased.

GAO Reports: Government Accountability Office
Known as the "congressional watchdog". Investigates the effectiveness of government programs to identify policy problems and needed changes.

CBO Reports: Congressional Budget Office
Provides Congress with biannual forecasts of the economy and how much government programs will cost. Analyze public policies especially with respect to money issues.

Think Tank Search

Think Tank Search

From Harvard Kennedy School of Government library.  Searches hundreds of U.S. and international think tanks.

Think Tanks are units within a university, foundation, advocacy group, government, or non-government organization that research public policy issues and publish their findings to inform or influence policy.  They are a key player in policy formation.

Tip:  Use Think Tank Search to search across many reports at once.  If one seems particularly relevant, go to that think tank's home page and mine it for more publications.

Your Librarian

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Laura Baker
Contact:
Librarian -- User Experience and Library Assessment

Library Room 205 (Main Floor)

bakerl@acu.edu

325-674-2477