Researching official government information 

A student may be preparing an academic research paper or thesis about the United States of America. So the student may ask us:

Where can I find information about the United States government?

We may reply:

You might start by searching at www.USA.gov.

USA.gov is an official website of the United States government. As Thammasat University students know, any website address ending with the letters .gov signifies that it is official website. If students find information about the U.S.A. on a website with the domain name gov., it is likely to be official information. U.S. government website addresses usually end in .gov or .mil. Starting in 1985, the domain name .gov has been exclusively use by government bodies in the United States. The .gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the United States federal government. Some U.S. government-related websites use .com, or .org instead of .gov, such the United States Postal Service (usps.com), recruiting websites for armed services (such as goarmy.com), and websites for some U.S. cities (cityofchicago.org).

Overseas equivalents

Many nations have their own versions of the .gov domain, for example:

Australia: .gov.au

Canada: .gc.ca

China: .gov.cn

Hong Kong: .gov.hk

France: gouv.fr

India: .gov.in

Indonesia: .go.id

Japan: .go.jp

Malaysia: .gov.my

Nepal: .gov.np

New Zealand: .govt.nz

North Korea: .gov.kp

Pakistan: .gov.pk

Philippines: .gov.ph

Russia: .gov.ru

South Korea: .go.kr

Sri Lanka: .gov.lk

Taiwan: .gov.tw

United Kingdom: .gov.uk

Vietnam: .gov.vn

When students find information on these websites, it may be considered official data published by the governments of these countries.

If the students tells us:

I only need information about one agency of the U.S. government.

then we may suggest:

Try looking at the A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies on the USA.gov website.

A research project or thesis about Native Americans might benefit from information from the Administration for Native Americans

As its webpage indicates:

The Administration for Native Americans promotes self-sufficiency and cultural preservation for Native Americans by providing social and economic development opportunities through financial assistance, training, and technical assistance.

If the thesis or academic research project is in the health sciences, it may be related to the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

As its website explains,

The mission of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases is to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases; the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research; and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)