Researching public policies and laws at the federal, state, and local levels is an important skill for social workers and researchers. This page includes the most common resources for finding public policies related to social work topics. See the Public Policy & Administration research guide for more resources, or contact Margie Ruppel, Social Sciences Librarian, for more in-depth assistance.
Lagana-Riordan, C., & Aguilar, J. P. (2009). What's Missing from No Child Left Behind? A policy analysis from a social work perspective. Children & Schools, 31(3), 135-144. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/31.3.135
A policy brief is a concise summary of research, policies, and possible courses of action for a given issue. They help you learn about the scope of a problem, and the policy's impacts.
Nonprofit organizations and think tanks monitor policy in particular areas, and produce policy reports and research. TIP: View each organization's list of publications, which will lead you to research, policy papers, statistics, etc. It is also wise to read each organization's "About" section, as they may have specific goals or biases.
Health Issues:
Women & Gender:
Children & Youth:
Immigration:
Find background information about social trends, policy, laws, cases, and issues.
Maintained by the Center for Media and Democracy. A good place to find additional information about a think tank.
Use to get an overview of the issues that a think tank is discussing and what social, policy or political biases that it brings to the discussion. Be sure to view the history page to determine if there are disputes about the information on the page.