Why include statistics?
Depending upon the type of paper you are writing, statistics may add significance, importance, and/or interest. Relevant statistics may support the reason why you chose the topic or indicate to the reader why they should read your paper.

Where to look?
To find statistics search all types of resources: government sites, organization and associations sites, databases, health and sport databases and sites. Many of the suggested websites listed in the boxes below are professor recommendations.

TIP: Watch for references to primary sources as you review articles in databases and on the Web.

ORU Databases - General and Subject Specific
Use the subject index or thesaurus to browse your topic, find related terms and identify terms to narrow and/or expand your topic. Try searching with percent, data, statistic*, etc.

ORU Journals - Specific Titles or Subject Related
Go to the Journals List and type a subject or keyword to get a list of journals. Select a journal title. Search your topic within a journal. Or, browse the journal table of contents for reports, surveys and research project.

What to search?
Consider your thesis, identify the key words and concepts, and add search terms that identify statistical data, such as percent, data or statistic.

Search for and restrict results to government and association or organization fact sheets, which usually include statistics and often reference primary sources, such as original research or studies.
Limit to domain.gov for government sites or add the terms association or organization to your search, as shown in the examples below.

Search suggestions:

your concept(s) AND site:.gov

your topic AND statistics AND site:.gov

your topic 1 AND your topic 2 AND fact sheet AND site:.gov

your concept AND statistic AND (association OR organization)

• opens new windowAmerican Time Use Survey Charts (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• opens new window Data and Statistics about the United States (USA.gov)
• opens new windowFCSM (Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology) Government's metasite that directs to "statistics from more than 100 U.S. Federal agencies."
• opens new windowPew Research Center - Provided by a "nonprofit, nonpartisan and nonadvocacy organization." Includes "public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research." Categories include "U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and technology; religion and public life; Hispanic trends; global attitudes and trends; and U.S. social and demographic trends.
• opens new windowRAND - A nonprofit and nonpartisan "research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges...." Browse categories and topics, or opens new windowSearch a key term.
  Example and sample citation text:
  opens new windowMining the Moon for Rocket Fuel to Get Us to Mars (Blog post)
  (Li, Gary, et al. "Mining the Moon for Rocket Fuel to Get Us to Mars." Commentary from The Conversation, 16 Mary 2017. the RAND Blog, https://www.rand.org/blog/2017/05/mining-the-moon-for-rocket-fuel-to-get-us-to-mars.html.)
• opens new windowSpotlight on Statistics - "Each edition of Spotlight on Statistics features graphics, maps, and brief written analysis to illustrate BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] data that examine the U.S. labor market and economy."

ORU Reference Databases