This detailed guide created by the Goldwater Institute's OpenMyGovernment.org, will walk the average citizen through the steps on how to file a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request. It details the laws in each state throughout the nation, that allow citizens to request records from their state and local governments. Although there is a FOIA system for citizens to use to request records from the federal government, this system cannot be used for many local and state records that need to be requested.

Instead, citizens would need to find the contact information for the Custodian of Records for their local government entity and send a letter requesting the public records. Citizens must place keywords into the request and what kind of records they would want containing those keywords, as well, as a time frame for when those keywords may have been used in the records.

Below, you can find the guide to creating the FOIA records request and a template, both created by OpenMyGovernment.org.