This week our methodological “sandbox” to play in is the category of sources called government documents, including legislation, court decisions, and documents generated by Congress (hearings, reports, etc).

Our reading for Tuesday 3/8:

“Finding Government Documents,” (University of New Haven) – some of these instructions are specific for their library, but their list provides an overview of the spectrum of government documents – try clicking around on a few to explore some of the categories and see what you stumble onto.

Additional resources:

WSU Library Subject Guide: Government Resources

Government Printing Office: http://gpoaccess.gov (at least until the end of March – use FDsys after that)

Government Documents online, via the Internet Archive

Constitution of the United States – see virtual exhibit on the National Archives website

State Constitutions (FindLaw)

US Serials Set (some of which are online, some of which are only in bound volumes in depository libraries) http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/index.html

Checklist of Government Publications, 1789-1909

Understanding Su Doc Classification Numbers: an online tutorial (Michigan State U)

Congressional hearings, via the Library of Congress

See also Senate hearings on the US Senate website

Also “FedNews” provides transcripts of Congressional debates, hearings, and briefs (but only since 1985)

Supreme Court cases: see the US Supreme Court website, also the Oyez Project

Citing Legal Cases and Legislation (Westfield State University Library)

Native American Tribal Law, Constitutions, and Treaties – National Indian Law Library

For a well-designed site featuring 100 key US documents, see OurDocuments.gov

On Thursday 3/10 we will be doing an in-class workshop in how to read a Supreme Court case, using the website http://www.streetlaw.org