Social scientists are skilled at searching the peer-reviewed literature for analysis of government actions, but may be less familiar with techniques for searching for laws and regulations on government websites.

This fifty (50) minute presentation will focus on the policy creation process, especially at federal administrative agencies that use regulations.gov for managing public comments such as the EPA and the CDC.

Agencies use notice and comment rulemaking to solicit input from industry and concerned citizens as well as other governmental units before creating final regulations, which have the power of law.

The presentation focuses on learning the website regulations.gov, which is a new streamlined website for agencies making new regulations.

Two key government publications, the Federal Register (FR) and the Code of Federal Regulations (using the eCFR) are easily discoverable through regulations.gov. By using the regulations.gov tool and government publications, it is possible to discover prior versions of regulations as well as the regulatory intent behind the changes.

Additional resources will be discussed to discover and access regulations. Official government sources including agency websites and interagency sites. The CFR and Federal Register, online and in print, will be discussed as well as value-added versions available from Proquest, HeinOnline, & Nexis Uni.