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Introductory Information
Welcome! This guide provides a list of useful Internet resources in government, politics, and law.
Use the yellow tabs to navigate various subjects of interest. If you need further assistance please, don't hesitate to contact a librarian using any of the options listed towards the bottom of this page.
Good luck with your research!
General Information & Gateways
- Caselaw Access Project (Harvard University)
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"The Caselaw Access Project ('CAP') expands public access to U.S. law. Our goal is to make all published U.S. court decisions freely available to the public online, in a consistent format, digitized from the collection of the Harvard Law Library." - FedFlix
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Database of films produced by the U.S. government. All of these films are available for use without copyright restrictions. Films may be searched by title, subject/keyword or creator. - Govinfo
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The official system of record for online government providing electronic access to a wide variety of information produced by the federal government. All sources are authenticated as official and original copies. Full text sources include: Congressional Bills, Congressional Directory, Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings & Reports, U.S. Code, Public Laws, the CFR, the Federal Register, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, the Constitution, Supreme Court Decisions, and more. - Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)
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Sample microdata from U.S. and international censuses. U.S. data is from the 1850-2000 Censuses of Population and the 2000-2010 American Community Surveys. All data is coded to provide continuity across samples and allows users maximum flexibility to customize variables. - Open Government Guide (Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press)
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"The Open Government Guide is a complete compendium of information on every state’s open records and open meetings laws. Each state’s section is arranged according to a standard outline, making it easy to compare laws in various states." - MLA Style Guide - Citing Government and Legal Documents
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Guide from the University of Portland Libraries that provides examples of citations for government documents in MLA format.
- Science.gov This link opens in a new window
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- What’s included? This gateway links to all government scientific and technical web sites. "Searches over 60 databases and over 2,200 scientific websites to provide users with access to more than 200 million pages of authoritative federal science information including research and development results."
- State of Rhode Island Transparency Portal
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View Rhode Island state expenditure data for the last four years by category, agency, payee and program. - USA.gov
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Comprehensive and easy to use portal to federal, state, and local government information. Searches can be done by topic, agency, audience, or level of government.
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