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Agriculture | American Government | Census | Education | Foreign Affairs
Grants/Assistance | Health | Historic Documents | Industry | Miscellaneous
Patents/Trademarks/Copyright | Science and Technology | Small Business
Social Security | State/Local | Taxes | U.S. Geological Survey
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Agriculture
- USDA Economic Research Service - Economic information from the United States Department of Agriculture. Especially nice are the browsable features by commodity. Select any crop or animal product and receive the latest publications and data on the selection.
American Government
- Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation - An ambitious project by the Library of Congress, this site provides digitized copies of the Journals of the Continental Congress, Letters of Delegates to Congress 1774-1789, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Statutes at Large, the American State Papers (legislative and executive documents of Congress during the period 1789 to 1838), the U.S. Serial Set, journals of Congress (proceedings), and debates of Congress including Annals of Congress, Register of Debates, Congressional Globe, and the Congressional Record. An essential site for those doing research on the first hundred years of the country.
- Congressional Biographical Directory - Profiles of every member of Congress from 1774-present. Each profile contains a brief biography, a directory of research collections (if available), and a bibliography. Search by name, position, state, or party.
- Core Documents of U.S. Democracy - Provides access such historic documents as the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and more. Important documents from the three branches of government are also available here.
- Federal Budget - Includes the complete budget presented to Congress and covers the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2002. Previous federal budgets back to 1996 can also be found on this page.
- GAO Reports and Testimonies - Access any GAO report or testimony from pre-1970 to the present.
- Green Book - "Program descriptions and historical data on a wide variety of social and economic topics, including Social Security, employment, earnings, welfare, child support, health insurance, the elderly, families with children, poverty and taxation."
- THOMAS - Rich Web site for legislative information. Search for the full-text of laws, bills, committee reports, and some historical documents like the Declaration of Independence. Except for the historical documents, most information only goes back to the 93rd Congress.
- U.S. Government Manual - Directory to federal government agencies, with an overview of the mission and responsibilities of each agency. Names of key administrators, addresses and phone numbers for the main and branch offices are also included.
- United States Reports - A collection of Supreme Court opinions dating back to 1991. The final versions of the opinions are collected in the bound volumes section of the site.
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Census
- The American FactFinder will answer most statistical questions about Census 2000 or the 1990 Census.
- Historical Census Data - Demographic data dating back to 1790 on the United States of America, individual states, counties, and cities. This site is hosted by the Census Bureau.
- Population and Household Economic Topics - Find useful statistics on such topics as age, income, poverty, education, and race. Toward the bottom of the page, find links to other sites such as State and County QuickFacts, Census Briefs, and Statistics Briefs.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States - The first place to look for statistics; published annually by Census Bureau with over 1500 tables of statistics gathered from all agencies and other organizations. Sources are usually listed, so you will be able to locate additional information if necessary. This site provides editions of the Statistical Abstracts series back to 1878. Older editions are available as .ZIP files.
- United States Historical Census Data Browser - Hosted by the University of Virginia, this site provides data on U.S. states and counties from 1790 to 1860.
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Education
- Condition of Education - Compiling data from the 2000-current editions of Condition of Education, this site provides narrative and statistical data on participation in education, learner outcomes, student effort and progress, and more. You can also access older editions of this title as well. Each edition also provides a special analysis of an education-related topic. For example, 2004's special analysis is titled "Paying for College: Changes Between 1990 and 2000 for Full-Time, Dependent Undergraduates."
- Educator's Reference Desk - Educator's Desk Reference is one of the most solid reliable teacher resources on the Internet. It provides a Yahoo style directory of sites for topics such as classroom management, motivation, professional development, and educational technology. A reference section also handily points to statistics, employment opportunities, and government resources. The Desk Reference also links to lesson plans, the ERIC database, and a searchable question archive. Although the archive is from the defunct AskERIC Web site, the information is still worthwhile.
- Gateway to Educational Materials - Sponsored by the Department of Education, Gateway calls itself "the key to one-stop, any-stop access to lesson plans, instructional units, and other education resources on the Internet." A better definition may not exist. Gateway is fully searchable by title, keyword, or description. Rarely does a free database index its materials so well. You can also find information by browsing subjects, types, and other categories. Once you get a result list either by browsing or searching, you can limit your search further by categories listed on the right side of the screen. The Gateway is a much more effective way of searching the Internet than Google or Yahoo since it only focuses on education-related material.
- NAEP, The Nation's Report Card - National assessment of student achievement in the following subject areas: Civics, Geography, Math, Reading, Science, History, and Writing. Search for subject-specific reports, state profiles and comparisons, an extensive archive as well as other data tools.
- School Code Lookup - Find your institution's code either by the institution's name or the code.
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Foreign Affairs
- Background Notes - "Information on all the countries of the world with which the United States has relations." Very similar to the World Factbook. (see below)
- Country Studies - Online version of the popular series, Country Studies. Date of publication for each country's report is listed on the title page.
- Foreign Relations of the U.S. - "Official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity." Several of these documents, dating back to the Truman administration, are available online.
- Treaties in Force - Listing of all current treaties and international agreements of the United States. Part I involves bilateral agreements. Part II involves multilateral agreements.
- World Factbook - Country profiles that include information on geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, and military. Includes maps of individual countries as well as regions and continents.
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Grants/Assistance
- Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance - Descriptions of all federally-funded programs. Contact information is available at the bottom of each description.
- GovBenefits - Listings of all federal and state benefit programs.
- Grants.gov - "Find and apply for competitive grant opportunities from all Federal grant-making agencies." Over 900 grants are available.
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Health
- CDC Wonder - Find a plethora of stats and other information on topics such as chronic diseases, health practice and prevention, communicable diseases, injury prevention, environmental and occupational health, and other reference data.
- Clinical Trials - "Regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers" along with " information about a trial's purpose, who may participate, locations, and phone numbers for more details."
- Healthfinder - An extensive A-Z list of health-related topical web sites. This site is developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- MedlinePlus - Reliable health information for the consumer. Contains a medical dictionary, medical encyclopedia, drug information, health news, and directories.
- Vital Records - Use this page to find where to write for birth, death, marriage, or divorce records.
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Historic Documents
- American Memory - Over 9 million digital documents that provide a record of American history.
- American Presidency Project - A searchable database of the American Presidency from 1789 to present. This resource currently provides over 75,000 records, including executive orders, proclamations, public addresses, and more.
- Archival Research Catalog (ARC) - Access to NARA's online catalog. The ARC galleries allow users to locate items by broad categories.
- World War II: A Digital Library - Access to hundreds of WW2-era digitized government documents. This collection is searchable and browsable. Maintained by Southern Methodist University.
Industry
- Career Guide to Industries - Companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Career Guide to Industries provides a broad overview of careers by industry, rather than by occupation.
- Harmonized Tariff Schedule of U.S. - "Applicable tariff rates and statistical categories for all merchandise imported into the United States; it is based on the international Harmonized System, the global classification system that is used to describe most world trade in goods." A database (located near the bottom of the screen) provides brief descriptions of items. A collection of tariff-related Congressional bills is available from the 105th-108th Congresses.
- NAICS - Provides definitions for industries, along with tables showing differences between the 1997 and 2002 editions. You can also view a comparison of the NAICS and SIC codes (this button is located at the top left of the screen).
- O*NET - Occupational information and job requirements. This title replaces the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and helps match skills to particular careers.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook - Find career information from the following topics: Nature of Work; Working Conditions; Employment; Training and other Qualifications; Job Outlook; Earnings; and Related Occupations.
- Standard Occupational Classification - used by all federal agencies "to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data."
- USAJOBS - The federal government's official site for job postings. You can search by keyword, location, pay range, or by agency.
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Miscellaneous
- American Memory - Over seven million digitized primary sources from more than 100 collections. You can search collections by keyword or title or limit your search by the type of document you want (manuscript, map, photo, etc.)
- Browse Topics - A selective collection of useful federal government Web sites on over 150 different topics, from accounting to zip codes.
- CyberCemetery - An archive of Web sites of defunct government agencies or commissions.
- Forms from the Feds - List of most requested forms downloadable from the agency. Compiled by the Government Publications Department, University of Memphis.
- Government Documents in the News - Links to federal documents on the Web relating to current events.
- New Electronic Titles (NET) - Collection of newly published electronic and tangible documents.
- Ready Reference Collection from Columbia University Libraries - A collection of oft-used government publications.
- Wayback Machine - Archive of Web sites "from 1996 to a few months ago." This page is helpful is finding now-defunct government sites.
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Patents/Trademark/Copyright
- Copyright Renewal Database - Locate copyright renewal records for books published between the years 1923 and 1963.
- U.S. Copyright Office - Search for copyright records, learn how to register a work, and find applicable copyright laws and policies.
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - Find the full-text of issued patents from 1976-present. Published applications are available from 2001-present. Patents from 1790-1975 are searchable only by Patent Number and U.S. Classification. Over 3 million pending, registered, and dead federal trademarks are available from this site.
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Science and Technology
- Energy Citations Database - Over two million research citations from 1948 to present. Covers such topics as chemistry, physics, environmental science, and geology.
- DOE Information Bridge - This database provides full text and citations for Department of Energy research literature.
Small Business
Social Security
- Social Security Benefits Publications - Access official publications on disability, retirement, Supplemental Security Income, appeals, earnings, and social security numbers.
- Social Security Bulletin - Quarterly publication focusing on relevant social security issues. Issues back to 1999 are available online. This site also allows you to find social security-related research and data by date or by subject - a very nice, convenient feature. This research and data does not necessarily come from the SSB.
- Social Security Handbook - "Includes the provisions of the Social Security Act (the Act), regulations issued under the Act, and precedential case decisions (rulings)."
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State/Local
Taxes
- Tax Forms - Find all your tax forms and publications here.
- Tax Statistics - Provides a bounty of data on businesses, individuals, and charitable or exempt organizations. Includes links to several editions of the IRS Data Book. Another interesting feature provides statistics by tax form number.
U.S. Geological Survey
- USGS Fact Sheets - Browse USGS fact sheets listed by the following themes: resources, hazards, environment, information management, and states. Reports are listed chronologically.
- USGS Library - Search the "largest earth science library in the world."
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