POGO 646: Policy & Program Evaluation

Step 1: Check the Agency Website

Go to the website for the agency that runs the program of interest. Locate any evaluations published there.

Tips: 

• Look for a link to publications, research, performance, or reports
• If you don't see a link to a page of reports, try a Google search limited to the agency website
  • example: SNAP reports site:.usda.gov

Step 2: Search library databases (see below for suggestions!)

a) Start with the program name in quotation marks.

Example: "earned income tax credit"

b) If you get too many results, or a lot of results aren't evaluations, focus your search like this:

"Program Name" AND (outcome OR effectiv* OR evaluat* OR assess* OR impact)

Databases for any policy area

Databases for specific policy areas

Step 3: Mine bibliographies for older evaluations

Check the bibliographies & footnotes of the evaluations you find for additional program evaluations, then find those via library.gmu.edu