Has your teacher encouraged you to include some statistics in your essay or term paper?

Would some well-researched facts help you to make your case stronger?

Has someone asked you to 'prove it'?

Finding statistics on almost anything has just gotten easier at the Clark State Library. Try "A Matter of Fact" "Statistical Universe," or "STAT-USA" the next time you need some timely statistics.

Access
From the OhioLINK home page choose "Explore OhioLINK databases by name" and scroll down to either "A Matter of Fact", "Statistical Universe", or STAT-USA". If you've never done this before, one of the service-minded library staff will be glad to help.

As anyone who has ever read the nifty little book How to Lie with Statistics knows, just because you find a statistic in print, doesn't make it a true fact. You still have to consider the source, and read carefully about what this 'fact' is really saying. A little formal knowledge of statistics doesn't hurt, either. So, proceed with caution. But this source should be really useful.

"A Matter of Fact" contains government statistics (40%) and statistical material taken from magazine and newspaper sources. It's not a bald presentation of stats, but rather gives you the information in a full-text paragraph taken directly from the original source.

"Statistical Universe" is a gold mine of statistics in table and chart form, or abstracts of the data. Use the PowerTables or Abstracts section of the database, and also notice the link to other sources of statistics.

For example on the Statistical Universe home page, click on PowerTables , enter 'school violence' at keyword, and highlight 'US.' this should result in a ton of charts in which school violence will figure.

"STAT-USA/Internet," a service of the U. S. Department of commerce, is the site for the U.S. business, economic and trade community, providing authoritative information from the federal government. Explore the links on this site for more statistics.

Remember that the library staff will be glad to help you access any of these databases and search these marvelous databases.