This guide is designed to help you start your Library research. Please feel free to email me if you get stuck, have additional research questions, would like to set up an appointment, or have other sources to include in the guide.
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The TL;DR
First, search for secondary sources that summarize key policies related to your topic. Briefs, reports, and other publications written by government agencies, advocacy organizations, and/or aimed at policymakers can be particularly useful. Legal encyclopedias, law review articles, scholarly articles, books, and news articles are all also useful.
Second, using the citations to legal/policy primary sources listed or mentioned in your secondary sources, locate the primary sources themselves. Different databases and websites contain different content, so pay attention to:
This course requires you to use APA style.
APA citations for legal materials are based on the Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, the go-to guide for legal professionals but include some additional information. There is no set standard for bills and non-codified information, so do your best to provide your readers the information they need in a consistent format they can figure out.
Because these standards are mainly for lawyers who are citing a particular point of law, for statutes and regulations, the best practice is to cite the codified (code) version of the law (e.g., the xx U.S.C. § xxx, xx C.F.R. § xxx, etc.) unless the law is too new to have been codified, distributed across so many codes, no longer valid, being discussed in the context of its passage, or is otherwise impractical to cite this way. For policy research, you are often citing bills or regulations that have been introduced but not passed/finalized/enacted/enrolled, or else you are citing the final version of the legislation or regulation but not the code.
General format for enacted US. Congressional bills/legislation (aka Public Laws/Statutes at Large) that have been passed
<Name of Act/Law>, Pub. L. No. <Number>, <Volume number> Stat. <Page number>. (<Year>). <URL> [Note that the final version of the law should have both a Pub. L. No. and a Stat. number on the document]
General format for U.S. Congressional (federal) bills (not or not yet passed)
<Name of Act/Law>, <Bill or Resolution Number>, <Number of Congress [e.g., 118th]> Cong. (<Year>). <URL>
General format for state bills and enacted legislation
<Name of Act/Law>, <State abbreviation> <Number [which may include some letter abbreviations like A.B./S.B./H.B./P.A./etc.]> (<Year>). <URL>
Nexis Uni, HeinOnline, and Congress.gov all include built-in citation tools that include recommended citations for each document/article in APA, Bluebook, and other citation styles, though each seems to use a different format.
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When you are searching for policies on a particular topic, you are first going to look for secondary sources: publications about policy on your topic. These might be articles, policy briefs, reports, books, etc. These secondary sources should summarize the key issues around policy in this area, and they should mention or list key policy documents such as passed or proposed legislation, regulations and administrative agency orders, or court cases.
Use secondary sources for your Background, Problem & Significance, Policy Landscape, and possibly Policy Options sections of your policy memo.
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You can also search across government websites for summaries of that level of government's policies.
Search tip: If you get too many results, try adding one of these words to your search terms:
Additional search tools for finding reports, documents, etc. on policy topics.
This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new windowAnother way to search is to type ("50 state" OR "fifty state") AND [keywords] into the search box in Westlaw, Nexis Uni, or HeinOnline.
Below is a small sample of tracking and surveillance tools based on the collection on the University of Michigan's Health Management and Policy Research Guide. A larger list is available as table 3 in The Public Health Law Research's report "Resources for Policy Surveillance."
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The Book of the States by
Since 1933, CSG has served as a resource for state leaders and a catalyst for innovation and excellence in state governance. The Book of the States has been the reference tool of choice since 1935, providing relevant, accurate and timely information, answers and comparisons for all 56 states, commonwealths and territories of the United States.
Finding the primary sources - the actual documents issuing the policy - will vary depending on what kind of document it is and which government issued it. Policy documents can be legislation (passed statutes or introduced bills), regulations or executive orders (from the president, governor, or the head of a government agency), court opinions, or documents detailing a government agency or political candidate's strategy or proposals.
It is generally easier to find federal government documents and legal information than state, and easier to find state-level documents than those from local governments.
However, do not underestimate the power of Google - current government documents are generally published online, and if you have the title of the document, you very well may find it with a simple Google search.
We also have databases with the full text of statutes, regulations, published court opinions.
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For more detailed information on searching for these kinds of documents, see the following research guide pages:
Guides to finding initiatives, ballot measures, and propositions
A few California agencies are particularly useful for finding policy analysis
A few federal agencies are particularly useful for finding policy analysis, too
Select policy research and advocacy organizations. Searching across organizations with Think Tank Search, Nongovernmental Organizations, or California NGOs Google Custom Search engines above may be more effective.
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