Statistics (numerical data) can help to strengthen an argument in a research paper, project or presentation. There are many sources of statistics and many are available online.
A good starting point is the United States Census which includes American FactFinder the basic tool for finding census information.
Also try these databases
Click through this tutorial to learn more about data
A Web search can be quite effective in finding statistics. Do searches like:
smoking teens statistics
Consider the source!
Not all sources for statistics are reliable. Government agencies and educational institutions can be reliable sources for this kind of information. You can limit your search to government and educational sites:
smoking teens statistics site:gov
OR
smoking teens statistics site:edu
Statistical data is also produced by organizations (e.g. the American Lung Association). So you could also search for:
smoking teens statistics site:org
Beware! Many organizations are advocating a particular point of view. Take this into account when using statistics from these sites.
Explore the sections of this guide for a selection of reliable sources for data and statistics.
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