<aside> đź“š See our other Guides and Manuals: Get the Most Out of MuckRock and DocumentCloud for more tips and tricks on getting the most out of MuckRock tools. And if this was helpful to you, consider making a donation to support our work!

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Basics

  1. How to get started on MuckRock. Learn how we work. MuckRock has a database of tens of thousands of government agencies and almost every single city, town and county.
  2. Getting the most out of DocumentCloud. As part of your MuckRock account, you get access to document hosting and analysis platform DocumentCloud and its powerful Add-Ons.
  3. Five simple tips to make you a better FOIA requester. Whether you’re new to requesting public records or just need a refresher, MuckRock has five tips to improve your requests.
  4. How to explore MuckRock’s public archive of FOIA requests and releases. Take a look at how you can use the Requests page to explore the archives, and even build off the great FOIA work of others.
  5. Out of request ideas? Try cloning a request from MuckRock users. Sort requests to see what other users have uncovered, then use the “Clone” feature to build off their work.

Next steps

  1. How to get a faster FOIA response. Get ****tips from MuckRock for getting a reply when an agency won’t answer your public records request.
  2. Appealing fee categories and waivers. Here’s some quick tips on what you can do to get an agency to reconsider your fee category, which can result in reduced costs.
  3. Dealing with excessive redactions. Redactions can serve as a bargaining chip for agencies when they leverage the associated redaction costs as a monetary barrier between requester and record.
  4. What to do when an agency claims not to have records you know it has. Take a look at ****five case studies in which the agency didn’t look, pretended not to understand the request, or were just plain wrong.
  5. Reviewing common federal FOIA exemptions. Learn more about nine FOIA exemptions that stand between you and records you want. We cover what they are, what they mean, and what you can do about them.
  6. Understanding state public records laws. Each state has its own laws about making documents, data and other records accessible to the public. MuckRock tracks how states impose exemptions that allow them to withhold records; how quickly each state responds; and other factors affecting government transparency.
  7. Dig into our appeal guides. In addition to our Place page, each state guide provides background and context about an exemption to the public records laws in all fifty states, as well as federal FOIA.

Links and resources