Guide to Government Documents Research

If you need to research any general and permanent laws of the United States, you can find those in the US Code. We also carry the print edition in our library's collection.

The enacted laws are organized into titles based on subject matter. The result, what you see here, are 54 titles and 5 appendices. There are a few different ways to search this site:

• If you have a specific citation, you can enter it in the main search field.
• The site defaults to searching the current version of the US Code, but you can change the settings to search a previous version.
• You can browse and conduct other basic or advanced searches.
• View the site's search tips and tricks. These types of search tip pages give detailed information, almost always with examples, of how and when to use quotations, wildcard symbols; how to limit your search to a particular field; and more.
• You can browse the code by clicking on the titles on the homepage and clicking the plus sign to drill down in any given title, section, subsection, etc.
• You can use the Popular Name Tool on the left sidebar if you know the popular name or short title of an act. This site is often quite slow to load. Once it is loaded, you can see the choices listed numerically then alphabetically, with the ability to jump to a closer location on the right sidebar.

If you need to research a specific federal law or a resolution that was enacted during a certain session of Congress, you’ll find those in the official source of legislation, the US Statutes at Large. The Statutes are the permanent collection of all laws and resolutions enacted during each Congressional session. They are also an excellent resource if you are researching the legislative history of a specific law because they will include the bill number which will allow you to trace back in time. See our Research Guide on federal legislative history research here: https://azsos.libguides.com/federallegislativehistory.

Govinfo.gov is an excellent online resource for finding the Statutes at Large. This is a digital repository of free, official government documents that is managed by the United States Government Publishing Office. The information is safe, secure, and can be trusted.

You have several options for searching for Statutes at Govinfo.gov:

• We recommend you begin by viewing this page that includes a list of the included date ranges and search tips and tricks.
  • The collection includes volumes from 1951 forward (the most current volume is 2017).
• Visit this page and browse the Statutes by expanding a specific year/session and viewing the entire volume.
• You could alternatively expand a specific document type under a year/session, such as Presidential Proclamations.

Once you find the document you need, you can download it in a variety of formats: PDF, Text document, MODS, PREMIS, or ZIP file. Please note that the PDF has an authentication mark on the upper left corner. This evidence of document integrity (no unauthorized changes) and authenticity (verification of a digital publication's identity, source, and ownership) is why we say the information you find on the Govinfo.gov website is safe, secure, and can be trusted.