Finding Primary Sources Research Guide

Use Social Explorer to visualize and interact with data, create maps, charts, reports and downloads that help you reach your goals. Explore hundreds of thousands of built-in data indicators related to demography, economy, health, politics, environment, crime and more. Easily add your own data for further impact.

Offers access to data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau which includes statistics about population, housing, industry, and business.

This authority for statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the U.S. provides a snapshot of America and its people with data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other Federal agencies and private organizations.

Offers data for population and housing censuses, economic censuses, censuses of governments, and American Community surveys.

This database contains documents, reports, and other detailed information from both the House and the Senate dating back to 1789. Includes Congressional Record and US Serial Set Collections 1 and 2A-E, 1789-2011.

This database contains information on US law and government as well as constitutions from around the globe. 

Links to Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment (BLASE); Democracy in America; Gun Regulation and Legislation in America; History of Supreme Court Nominations; Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S.; and Reports of U.S. Presidential Commissions and Other Advisory Bodies: A Bibliographic Listing.

Westlaw Campus Research contains the full text of court opinions, statutes, and regulations from state and federal governments. Westlaw Campus Research is powered by WestSearch, which dramatically improves searching and the ability to find the most relevant information quickly. Westlaw Campus Research is a premier research service for legal, news, and business-related information, making it a great resources for law, business, and criminal justice students.
Primary features include:
• Analytical sources like American Jurisprudence 2d
• American Law Reports
• Black's Law Dictionary
• 800+ law reviews and journals
• Primary law sources like USCA, CFR, Federal Register and all federal, state and Supreme Court cases
• Newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and company information

This collection brings together a diverse offering of publications covering civil rights in the United States as their legal protections and definitions are expanded to cover more and more Americans. Containing hearings and committee prints, legislative histories on the landmark legislations, CRS and GAO reports, briefs from major Supreme Court cases, and publications from the Commission on Civil Rights.

A digital file covering the history of every American territory before it became an American state, covering 1764-1953. Includes series 1-4.

The documents presented here represent a selection of primary sources available in several ProQuest databases. The databases represented in this website include American Periodicals, Black Abolitionist Papers, ProQuest History Vault, ProQuest Congressional, Supreme Court Insight and Alexander Street’s Black Thought and Culture.

The experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media. This collection offers “suggested searches” to guide students to pertinent topics from social justice, politics, arts, literature, key people, etc.

A collection of materials including statutes, legal cases, books, and pamphlets about slavery in the United States and its continued issues through the early 19th century. Scholarly article content is not included in this free access version.