Government Documents:

U.S. Census Bureau. (2006) Current Population Reports: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance (Publication No. P60-233). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved June 4, 2008 from http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/p60-233.pdf.

- This government document, although 78 pages, is easy for any journalist to navigate. This document contains extensive research and statistics regarding United States income, poverty and health insurance coverage without giving any bias or analysis. This document provides journalist with a huge resource of statistical information regarding poverty as a whole and insurance coverage; however, it does not specify where this poverty is occurring, making it a good source for poverty research in general, but a poor source for rural poverty research. The document has a comprehensive table of contents that assists journalists in easily finding the information they need without searching through the entire paper. Also, all information is reliable because the U.S. Census Bureau has certified it.

United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. (2007) Rural Definitions: National and State Indicator Tables. Retrieved June 4, 2008 from http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/RuralDefinitions/.

- According to the USDA Economic Research Service website, “This tool provides selected socioeconomic indicators (such as population, education, poverty, etc.) for each definition of rural, for each State and the U.S., in one Excel file. Each individual spreadsheet allows the user to easily compare a particular indicator across the different definitions of rural. By selecting different States from the pull down menu, the user can make quick comparisons of indicators across States.” This Excel document would allow a journalist to determine how many people are considered rural in the U.S. under different definitions, compare the average household income of the rural populations under different rural definitions and see how changing the population threshold from 2,500 to 10,000 affects the number of people considered rural in the selected State. This document of definitions is easy to use for any journalist familiar with Excel and contains very informative, useful information for any individual researching rural areas.