Finding Government Information on the Internet: A Tutorial

Civics 101- a REALLY brief course in the U.S. Government

The U.S. or Federal Government runs the country as a whole and has three parts:

the Legislative Branch makes the laws
the Judicial Branch interprets the laws
the Executive Branch enforces the laws

 The Legislative branch includes:
Congress- the House of Representatives and the Senate
Other Congressional Agencies- Library of Congress, Government Printing Office, Government Accountability Office, Congressional Budget Office

Types of information produced:
Laws, hearing reports, investigations, budget reports, audits

 The Judicial branch includes:
The Supreme Court
Lower Federal courts

Types of information produced:
Court decisions
General publications of the Judiciary

 The Executive branch includes:
President and Vice-President
15 Cabinet Departments and their agencies
Executive Office of the President (National Security Council, Office of Management & the Budget, etc.)

Types of information produced:
Reports, statistics, treaties, maps, general publications, journals and periodicals

There are other agencies, commissions and independent government corporations, such as the Federal Trade Commission, Social Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service. To find out about all of the parts of the Federal Government, use The United States Government Manual (JK421 .A3) in the Reference Collection. An on-line version is available, too. The Manual will give a summary of the purpose of all the branches and agencies of the government, as well as their Internet address and the current staff.

Now that we have a brief understanding of the structure of the government, let's look at some ways to locate government information.

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