LibGuides: Public Policy: Find Policy Issues and Papers

Finding Background Information

Congressional Research Service Reports (US govt)
CRS reports provide Congress with both anticipatory and on-demand research and analysis to support their legislative, oversight, and representational duties. All reports adhere to the core values of CRS; they are authoritative, objective and nonpartisan. Reports range in length from several pages to more than one-hundred pages and cover the full breadth of topics of interest to Congress.

CQ Researcher Plus Archive
Coverage: 1923-present
Provides CQ Researcher reports that explore a single hot issue in the news each week, including political, social, medical, international, educational, environmental, technological and economical issues.

Government Acountability Office (GAO)
An independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.

Finding Policy Papers

Annenberg Public Policy Center
The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania has been the premier communication policy center in the country since its founding in 1993. By conducting and releasing research, staging conferences and hosting policy discussions, its scholars have addressed the role of communication in politics, adolescent behavior, child development, health care, civics and mental health, among other important arenas.
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
A bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to providing strategic insights and policy solutions to help decision makers chart a course toward a better world.

Columbia International Affairs Online
Columbia International Affairs Online provides access to materials in international affairs, including working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals, and policy briefs.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
The CBO provides nonpartisan analysis of proposed legislation for members of Congress.
Federation of American Scientists
Contains reports, issue briefs and other publications on national and international security issues connected to applied science and technology.
Homeland Security Digital Library (US govt)
As of 8-21-25 site says: "Some content on this platform has been removed in accordance with the President’s executive orders and DHS priorities." The nation’s premier collection of documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management. The HSDL is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.
Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) at Yale University
ISPS advances interdisciplinary research in the social sciences that aims to shape public policy and inform democratic deliberation. NOTE: "Check for Full Text" is not available in this database; you must search the Local Catalog for the title of the journal to see if we own it.
OurEnergyPolicy.Org Resource Library
Mission is to facilitate substantive, responsible dialogue on energy policy issues, and provide this dialogue as a resource for the American people, policymakers, and the media.

PAIS Index
Coverage: 1915-1976
Index to public and social policy issues, foreign and domestic. Materials indexed include journal articles, government documents, books, pamphlets, yearbooks, and directories.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.
Policy Commons Open Collections
Policy Commons Open Collections preserves materials from government agencies and government-funded organizations facing the removal of public information and data. Thousands of materials from over 70 organizations and agencies are available, including documents from defunct websites such as USAID. Materials include reports, videos, podcasts, and blog posts and are being added on an ongoing basis.
For more information about using this resource, view the publisher's online tutorial.

RAND Corporation
Search research briefs and other policy-oriented publications. The majority of publicly available research documents published since 1998 are available as free eBook downloads or hard-copy purchase.
Rand, Science & Technology Reports
Sci/Tech division of RAND.

Try Google!

Public policy resources from think tanks, research institutes, etc., may be available online for free. To find them in Google, try the phrase "policy brief" in your search.

For example: health insurance "policy brief"

If you limit your search to a domain such as gov, edu, or org, you will make your search even more specific.

For example health insurance "policy brief" site:org

Public Policy

Finding Background Information

Finding Policy Papers

Try Google!

Our Libraries