Primary Sources: What Are Primary Sources? A government’s documents are direct evidence of its activities, functions, and policies.
For any research that relates to the workings of government, government documents are indispensible primary sources. A wide range of primary sources are found in government documents: the hearings and debates of legislative bodies; the official text of laws, regulations and treaties; records of government expenditures and finances; statistical compilations such as census data; investigative reports; scientific data; and many other sources that touch virtually all aspects of society and human endeavor. This information comes in a similarly wide variety of formats, including books, periodicals, maps, CD-ROMs, microfiche, and online databases. What makes all these sources “government documents”? What all these sources have in common is that they are published or otherwise made available to the general public by a government for the general public, at government expense or as required by law.
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Library websites. Blogs.