Have a public policy research question? The two fastest ways to get started quickly with these questions is to search CQ Researcher and Congressional Research Service Reports. CQ Researcher can be found on the Penrose Library database list under “C”, and CRS reports can be found in the ProQuest Congressional database (under letter “P”).
1. CQ Researcher will give you background information on your topic, such as recent statutes or court cases, items in the news, and debate topics (the pros and cons of your topic). The section you really want to focus on there is the Chronology section. This ensures that you have all relevant historical background on your policy issue.
2. ProQuest Congressional. When you get into this database, make certain that only “CRS Reports” is selected. Congressional Research Service prepares these reports exclusively for Congress, so their policy and legal analyses tend to be non-partisan and replete with first-hand sources. Although many CRS reports can be found on the open Internet (http://libguides.du.edu/CRS), the ProQuest platform is where you will find the most complete set of CRS reports that are not classified.

CRS Reports via ProQuest Congressional

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