Source about Careers

Occupational Outlook Handbook - lets you search for or browse specific types of jobs, and for each one describes the training and education needed, typical earnings, expected job prospects, what people with that job do, and working conditions

Sources for Demographic Data

• American Factfinder - use the “Fact Sheet for your community” box near the top of the page to get a quick profile of age, race, income, and housing characteristics for a town or zip code
• Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) - profiles of individual Illinois communities, with information on municipal and commercial services, health facilities, transportation, utilities, education, community facilities (churches, clubs, golf courses, etc.), employment and wages, tax structure, etc.
• School District Demographics - data on age, sex, race, family and household size, educational attainment, and sources of revenue from the 2000 Census and the 2005 American Community Survey
• County Business Patterns - interactive site offering employment, wage, and business data by county

Sources for Housing & Cost of Living Data

• American Housing Survey - provides data on apartments, different sizes of home, income, housing & neighborhood quality, housing costs, and more
• Moving.com - offers a detailed look at the people, places, and conditions in an area, using data from the US Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor, the IRS, the FBI, and NOAA (weather)
• Cost of Living Comparison Calculator - put in two cities and see the difference in costs of groceries, housing, utilities, health care, transportation, and the like
• Realtor sites such as Coldwellbanker.com and Century 21.com will show you current properties and prices in the locations you specify

Sources for Crime and Corrections Data

• ICJIA (Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority) - CJ DataNet, an Internet clearinghouse of criminal justice data for the State of Illinois, which can be used to research broad issues facing the criminal justice system or to examine crime problems in a specific Illinois city, county, or region
• Illinois State Police - Illinois crime statistics
• Illinois Department of Corrections - not only lists individual facilities, but includes information from their annual reports
• FBI Uniform Crime Reports - volume and rate of crime offenses, arrests, law enforcement employee data

Sources for Newspaper Articles    (A good source of information about the community and what’s going on there)

• America’s Newspapers – more than 100 newspapers from Illinois
• LexisNexis Academic - Use the "News" tab on the red bar

For help citing sources in APA format:

• APA Style Online
• APA Formatting and Style Guide (Purdue)

Jeanne Stierman – 2/08