Find a Bill - SPCH 101 (VanHorn) - Public Address - Research Guides at Hayden Memorial Library

Search Tips: Two-Minute Tip Videos

The Legislative Process
9-Part video explaining the steps in the legislative process.
Using Search Terms and Facets
How to do a search on Congress.gov and refine the results with the facets.
Explore a Bill on Congress.gov
An overview showing the information provided for a single bill, including tabs for: Summary, Text, Actions, Titles, Amendments, Cosponsors, Committees, and Related Bills.
Creating and Using Email Alerts
Create an email alert to be notified when any action is taken on a bill you are following.

More Tips

Select "Share/Save" to email or save durable link to your bill
Select "Text " tab, then Print the text of the bill

Other Sources for Bills

GovTrack.us
GovTrack helps everyone learn about and track the activities of the United States Congress. This is a project of Civic Impulse, LLC. GovTrack.us is not a government website.

Find a Bill - Limit by Subject area and narrow even further by subcategories

Majority Whip

Other Tips

Government websites like the Occupational Outlook Handbook provide current information on a wide variety of occupations.

Look for "Contacts for More Info." This information includes links to professional associations. These association websites often provide information about trends in the field. Look on association websites for news articles, advocacy issues, publications, etc.

Find a Bill using Congress.gov

Congress.gov
Research an unenacted federal bill related to your future career that is currently under consideration of Congress and has “latest action taken” during the past 18 months.
Example: H.R. 3712 Affordable College Textbook Act
Tabs include Text (of the Bill), Actions, Cosponsors
Finding Legislation Begin Considered by Congress Video (2:44)

Advanced Search in Congress.gov

Use the Advanced Search feature to limit by legislation types.

Other advanced features include limiting by subjects, select any that might apply.

Who is your Representative?

Who is your House Representative?
If your bill begins with H.R.
Who is your Senate Representative?
If your bill begins with S.
Congressional Committees
Is your representative on any committees?

Find Bills & Gather Secondary Sources

Access newspaper databases below to locate current secondary sources:

U.S. Major Dailies (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
U.S. Major Dailies provides access to the five most respected U.S. national and regional newspapers, including The New York Times and Washington Post, co-exclusive access to The Wall Street Journal, and exclusive access to Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. The titles offer researchers thorough and timely coverage of local, regional, and world events with journalistic balance and perspective. The content is available by 8am each day and provides archives stretching as far back as 1985. (Expires 6/30/24)
Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
Contains thousands of full-text articles from authoritative sources including pro/con viewpoints, topic overviews, court case overviews, issues. Media includes images, charts, videos, podcasts and streaming audio. Peer reviewed journals also available.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. The database contains comprehensive full text for major newspapers such as Christian Science Monitor, Irish Times (Ireland), The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), The Times (UK), Toronto Star, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times (DC), and others. Also features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts, including: ABC News (American Broadcasting Company), ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), CBS News, CNBC, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and PBS.
Vocational & Career This link opens in a new window
Trade and industry-related journals from 1985 including Pediatric Nursing, Wireless Week, Restaurant Business, and Advertising Age.

Other Sources

Professional associations often use their websites to communicate with their members about current issues (maybe pending legislation).

Feature articles about these issues in association publications like newsletters or journals.
Calling members to action, persuading them to contact their local or federal representatives.
These websites often link to other resources for policy, legislation, and other advocacy efforts.