English 207: Health Science Writing
Resources and skills for writing, research, and citing sources in the Health Sciences
Library Resources
Note: While these below resources are great sources for finding data sets, you can also find valuable data and graphs from the research papers you've selected. These will commonly be located in the paper's Results section.
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UWM Health Stats Guideresearch guide with links to stat websites/resources, links to national, state, and local orgs
Health Data by Organization
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CDC Data and StatisticsFrom the Centers for Disease Control, browse by topic to locate data and statistics you need.
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Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services Research Statistics and DataThis page links to numerous statistical research reports, data applications, and other portals, such as the CMS Data Navigator.
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data.census.gov (U.S. Census Bureau)Main portal for U.S. Census demographic data for various geographic areas.
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Department of Education - Data and StatisticsA smattering of statistical and datasets for a variety of public education-related resources such as college report cards, public school data, loan data, etc.
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FEMA US Fire Administration Data LibraryFEMA;'s datasets contain relevant environmental and disaster-related health information.
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Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUPnet )HCUPnet is a free, on-line query system based on data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). It provides access to health statistics and information on hospital inpatient and emergency department utilization.
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Health Informaticsfrom National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR)
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Health Services Research Information Central (HISRC) - Data, Tools, & StatisticsFrom the National Institutes of Health, this portal is part of a centralized organizational search platform for accessing data and statistics.
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Homelessness Data ExchangeTheses data and statistical reports, available through, HUD, specifically address indicators and factors related to homeless populations.
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Housing and Urban Development Data PortalHUD provides interested researchers with access to the original data sets generated by PD&R-sponsored data collection efforts, including the American Housing Survey, median family incomes and income limits, as well as microdata from research initiatives on topics such as housing discrimination, the HUD-insured multifamily housing stock, and the public housing population.
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HRSA Data CenterAggregated data sets available from the Health Resources and Services Administration.
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National Center for Health Care StatisticsA vast collection of health statistics from around the United States. Monitored by the CDC.
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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) DataData from the department of health and human services administration on issues related to mental health and substance abuse disorders.
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Wisconsin Data and StatsWisconsin-specific health data and statistics from WI DHS.
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Wisconsin Environmental Public Health Tracking ProgramThe WI EPHT program focuses on monitoring conditions in the air, land and water for which a strong public health link is known or suspected. Query the system for tables of data on various public health topics.Topics include Asthma, Carcinogenic Emissions, Childhood Blood Lead, Criteria Air Pollutants, Carcinogenic Emissions, Heart Attacks, Public Drinking Water, and Reproductive Outcomes
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National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) AtlasPlusNote: this links to an archived version.
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America's Health RankingsAHR is provided by the United Health Foundation to provide statistical rankings of US states by a variety of factors.
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American Hospital DirectoryView hospital profiles from around the United States.
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American Nursing Informatics AssociationPromotes communication, education, and research in the nursing field.
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City Health DashboardOffers population health data on all US cities over 50,000 population. Created by NYU's Grossman School of Medicine.
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Dartmouth Atlas DataProject by Dartmouth Unviersity providing data and visualizations on healthcare costs and utilization throughout the United States.
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Global Health Observatory Data Repository (WHO)WHO's gateway to health-related statistics for more than 1000 indicators for its 194 Member States. Data are organized to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including health status indicators to monitor progress towards for the overall health goal, indicators to track equity in health indicators, and the indicators for the specific health and health-related targets of the SDGs.
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Health: Statistical Resource on the Web from U. MichiganMaintained by the University of Michigan Library, Government Documents Department
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Health and Medical Care ArchiveMedical care data sets sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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Health System Data CenterExplore state health system performance and policy data through custom tables, graphs and maps
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ICPSRAggregated datasets from a variety of sources across the social sciences, humanities, and health sciences hosted by the University of Michigan.
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Kaiser Family Foundation: State StatisticsCompile data from hundreds of State Health Facts indicators on health coverage, access, and costs, as well as demographic and economic data, into interactive custom reports for a single state or multiple states.
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National Health Interview SurveyThe National Health Interview Survey is a survey collecting information on the health, health care access, and health behaviors of the civilian, non-institutionalized U.S. population, with digital data files available from 1963 to present. IPUMS Health Surveys harmonizes these data and allows users to create custom NHIS data extracts for analysis.
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Population Reference Bureau: Data CenterDemographers in PRB's U.S. Programs have selected key U.S. indicators that can be viewed in map, tabular, and trend chart formats, by state and county. Use the indicator selection button above to select from the available indicators. Use the States button to select profiles by state.
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Project Tycho - Data for HealthFrom the University of Pittsburgh, Project Tycho aims to 1. Standardize data about diseases and their determinants 2. Create machine-interpretable metadata and 3. Make data widely available to users.
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State Health Access Database (SHADAC)SHADAC is a multidisciplinary health policy research center with a focus on state health policy. SHADAC is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is affiliated with the Health Policy and Management Division of the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota.
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World Health Organization (WHO) - Global Health ObservatoryHO programmes compile and disseminate a broad range of statistics that play a key role in advocacy for health issues, monitoring and evaluation of health programmes and provision of technical assistance to countries
Video: How to Find a Geography Using Maps on data.census.gov
This video from the US Census Bureau walks through generating data maps for a specific location in data.census.gov.
First Nations Health Data
CDC and other national datasets often overlook communities or factors when collecting data.
In these cases, it is best to find local or organizational information that will contextualize the struggle of the communities and their specific health concerns and needs.
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Urban Indian Health Institute The mission of Urban Indian Health Institute is to decolonize data, for Indigenous people, by Indigenous people.
Data and Stats for Population Groups
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CDC: LGBT HealthNote: this links to an archived version.
Additional Statistical Information
Resources containing demographic data as well as general information on statistics and analysis.
- Consumer Expenditure Survey
Demographic information on the buying habits of American consumers for 300 broad product categories; data collected in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys.
- American Time Use Survey
Measures the amount of time people spend on various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing; data collected in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys.
_____________________________________ - Claritas: My Best Segments
Snapshots of demographic traits, lifestyles & behaviors by zip code.
- City-data.com
Demographic information on the buying habits of American consumers for 300 broad product categories; data collected in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys.
- ESRI Zip Code Lookup Tool
Snapshots of socioeconomic & demographic characteristics as well as lifestyles by zip code.
___________________________________ - American Marketplace (via LexisNexis Academic)
Provides in-depth marketing analysis (demographics and spending patterns) based on data collected mainly from the federal government.
- NPD Group: Press Releases
Browse press releases from the NPD Group, a global provider of consumer and retail market research information; press releases often contain statistical data and can be browsed by date and by industry.
- Marketing Charts
Collection of 2,500 charts and data files related to marketing, with a special focus on marketing in the media industry.
- Last Updated: Jun 26, 2025 3:55 PM
- URL: https://guides.library.uwm.edu/healthwriting
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Subjects: English, Health Sciences