Later, I'll profile each Top Ten source and explain how the tips apply to it. Favor sources consisting primarily of statistics, like almanacs, statistical compendia, and numeric databases. Most of the sources in the Top Ten consist primarily of statistics. Because there's no standardization at Web sites, statistics may be well hidden. I've found the preceding terms and types of material to be the most productive.
Statistical information follows common and often predictable patterns.
Often this material is not searchable, but on some systems it is. On ProQuest Direct, you can search captions. At searchable Web sites, you can use keywords like chart or graph. Each database employs different terminology, so be sure to check the documentation for the one you're using. As you might expect, the top ten statistical sources are heavy on government publishers.