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POL 220: US Public Policy: Public Policy Resources

Research Help

Welcome to your library guide to POL 220: US Public Policy! I designed this guide with your research needs in mind, especially as you tackle your policy history paper. Be sure to spend some time exploring what's here!

  • Don't hesitate to ask if you've got questions! Send me an email or make an appointment. I enjoy helping you solve research problems.
  • You can also find library and research help at the library's Information Desk or via Reference Services
  • And new this year! You can submit your research question directly using the Research Next Steps program. Get help from a librarian from the comfort of your dorm or apartment.
  • Depending on your topic, you may also want to explore resources on the Political Science library research guide.

If you need a refresher on using the library, consult our Library FAQs and an overview of the Library. We also have a guide on how to do research well - use it to brush up and expand your research skills! Finally, we also have a guide on how to cite sources.

Newspaper Articles

Newspapers are an EXCELLENT source for tracing policy histories. If you search for newspapers online, however, you often hit paywalls. Fortunately, you can access that exact same content - for free - through the library! Use the databases below to access full text of newspapers. The databases are updated constantly, so you'll even find today's papers already in the databases.

Additional Resources

We have a number of primary source and other resources that might be useful, depending on your topic. Browse the databases below to see what might fit. 

Class Slides

Here are the slides from our library session.

Finding Legislation

You'll be able to access many government documents online, although it gets a little trickier the farther back you go, as not everything has been digitized. These resources will point you to on legislation at both the federal and state levels.

Georgetown Law Library has an excellent guide to finding government documents and legislative histories (although note that we have access to some - but not all - of the resources mentioned on that guide.)

You can also search the Gustavus Library catalog for other government documents, both in print and online. We're a selective Federal Repository Library (and scroll to the bottom of this page for more links on finding government documents).

Federal

State

If you're researching state-level policies, here are some relevant sites for the state of Minnesota. If you're working on a different state, search for these same kinds of resources from your state.

Finding Court Rulings

Consult our Guide for Law for more ways to search. If you are looking primarily for US Supreme Court cases, you can also consult the research guide for POL 390: Constitutional Law.

Librarian

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Julie Gilbert
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If you have any questions about research, an assignment, or the library in general, please contact me. I look forward to working with you!
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Sources for Opinion Polls

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0