Google is an easy way to find official government information. After you type in your keywords, add site:gov to the search.
For example:
food stamp statistics site:.gov
Then, you will limit your search to .gov sites (mostly federal, but also some state & local resources).
Good for: Researching U.S. legislative information.
Contains: Congressional publications, bills, laws, regulations, committee information, and more.
Dates covered: 1789-present.
1895-
Indexes the literature of sociology and related disciplines.
1972-
Index to the literature of public policy, social policy, and the social sciences in general.
Good for: Controversial topics in social issues, environment, health, education, science, and technology.
Contains: Reports with information about all sides of an issue, including comments from experts in the field, charts and graphs, a pro-con feature, a chronology, a bibliography for additional research, and a list of contacts.
Dates covered: 1923-present.
Good for: Researching education topics.
Contains: Journal articles.
Dates covered: 1996-present.