LibGuides: Social Work 410: Social Welfare Policy and Services: Background Information

Background Information

Congress.gov
From The Library of Congress. Overview of how laws are made. Includes a congressional glossary.
Congress.gov Legislative Glossary
Brief explanations of legislative terms used throughout Congress.gov.

For more government information services, you can contact our government inforamtion librarian Sanga Sung <ssung@illinois.edu>.

Explore Census Data
The go-to source for demographic information about the United States. Through Advanced Search, you can browse or search for statistics by topic (such as Income and Poverty, Populations and People, Race and Ethnicity, and so on), geography, and years.
Decennial Census by Decade
Includes information about the United States decennial census, from its start in 1790 to the most recent decade

ProQuest Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
Full text of pending legislation, U.S. laws, testimony before Congress and other Congressional documents. Includes an unofficial, but useful version of the Code of Federal Regulations and the Federal Register from 1980 to the present.
Proquest Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
Provides compiled histories with full text PDFs and tools to facilitate research into the legislative histories of U.S. statutes. It provides the history of an act. Includes hearings, reports, debates, and every version of a bill. Great place to find where and how a policy got started.

ProQuest Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports
A great starting points for research on a wide variety of topics, past and present. Reports often provide pro and con positions, overviews, statistics and analysis.
How To Find Free Case Law Online
A research guide by Library of Congress to help you locate free case law on the internet using Google Scholar, CourtListener, Caselaw Access Project, FindLaw, and Justia.
govinfo
Platform managed by the Government Publishing Office that includes many major government publications including the United States Code, the Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings, etc.

Illinois General Assembly
Search for bills, public acts, and statutes. Includes legislative glossary.