EDGAR, THOMAS & FactFinder (The Big Three)

The Big Three

1. EDGAR: www.sec.gov/edgar/quickedgar.htm The laws and rules that govern the securities industry in the United States derive from a simple and straightforward concept: all investors, whether large institutions or private individuals, should have access to certain basic facts about an investment prior to buying it. To achieve this, the SEC requires public companies to disclose meaningful financial and other information to the public, which provides a common pool of knowledge for all investors to use to judge for themselves if a company's securities are a good investment.

Pitt Business Library's Guide to Company Research:
www.library.pitt.edu/guides/business


2. THOMAS: http://thomas.loc.gov/ Acting under the directive of the leadership of the 104th Congress to make Federal legislative information freely available to the Internet public, a Library of Congress team brought the THOMAS World Wide Web system online in January 1995, at the inception of the 104th Congress. The first database made available was Bill Text, followed shortly by Congressional Record Text, Bill Summary & Status, Hot Bills (no longer maintained), the Congressional Record Index, and the Constitution (now found, along with other historical Congressional documents, under the "Historical Documents" category on the THOMAS home page). Enhancements in the types of legislative data available, as well as in search and display capabilities, have been continuously added.

Patricia's guide to researching federal legislation online: www.library.pitt.edu/guides/govtpubs/e-legislative.html


3. The Census: http://factfinder.census.gov/

1. Click on Fact Sheet (in the left margin) to see the 2000 US national profile.

2. Enter search information for city, county or state in the box.

3. You will see four categories: General, Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics.

Click on Show More (next to each section heading) for each category to see more results.

*use the MAPS features to show boundaries for voting districts and school systems.

Pittsburgh Neighborhood Census tract (pop.~4000) numbers for 2000 & 1990:
www.library.pitt.edu/guides/govtpubs/tracts.html

1. Click on “Data Sets” from the left menu.

2. Select Census 2000 Summary File 1 and then choose Quick Tables from the right menu.

3. From the Geographic Type dropdown box (its default is Nation) choose Census Tract.

4. Select Pennsylvania, then Allegheny County.

5. Click on the Census Tract numbers you need and click the “Add” button after each.

6. Click “Next”.

7. Select a report, click “Add”, click “Show Result.”


MATH FOR REPORTERS: www.robertniles.com/stats

detailed Hillman Guide to researching the Census & related demographic sites:
www.library.pitt.edu/guides/govtpubs/census.html