Think tanks are institutions often affiliated with universities, foundations, advocacy groups, and non-governmental organizations that generate policy research and analysis. Many are ideological; others strive to be independent and non-partisan.
The Brookings Institution. Conduct research on ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global levels.
Oakland Institute. Works in the areas of land rights, climate change, sustainable food systems, international aid, foreign investment and more.
Center for American Progress. Progressive research and advocacy organization "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action."
Land Portal. Interdisciplinary organization committed to improving land governance through open data and cross-sectoral collaboration on land.
Harvard Center for International Development. Conducts research at international development at all academic levels. See their working papers.
Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy. Founded by former UC Berkeley faculty Ananya Roy. "Aims to understand and transform the divides and dispossessions, the color-lines, of the 21st century."
Pew Research Center. Nonpartisan institute conducting public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
Public Policy Institute of California. Seeks to inform and improve public policy in California through independent nonpartisan research.
Resources for the Future. Independent nonpartisan organization conducting economic policy research concerning natural resources and the environment.
Russell Sage Foundation. Works on improvement of social and living conditions in the United States.
Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality. Monitor trends, support scientific analysis, develops evidence-based policy and disseminates data and research on poverty and inequality.
From NCSU Libraries. Video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States license.
Think Tank Search Engine. From Harvard Kennedy School Library.
CGS Policy Archive. Comprehensive digital library of public policy research containing over 30,000 documents
China Economy, Public Policy, and Security Database 皮书数据库. High-value analytical reports intended to guide policymaking in the People's Republic of China (known as "Pishu" which literally means "cover-books").
Think Tanks and NGOs. List of non-profit research institutes and NGOs around the world.
Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources. Directory of sources on international affairs, international relations, international studies, global studies, and global education.
Global Go To Think Tank Index Reports. Comprehensive think tank overview publication from the University of Pennsylvania, up[dated annually.
Some think tanks are funded by groups with ideological perspectives. Consult neutral resources which indicate whether an organization is conservative, progressive, bipartisan, or affiliated with an advocacy group. It can be illuminating to look up a group on Source Watch, which tracks corporate front campaigns, think tanks funded by lobby groups, etc.
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet. From Johns Hopkins University.
Evaluating Web Pages - Techniques to Apply and Questions to Ask. Exhaustive and informative guide on the subject, from the UC Berkeley Teaching Library.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Or, Why It's a Good Idea to Evaluate Web Sources. From New Mexico State University, includes links to examples of "good" and "bad" websites.
How to Critically Analyze Information Sources. A quick guide to help you determine the relevance and authority of a resource from Cornell University.