diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5982d2c642..337726fdc7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ website/node_modules
 *.iml
 *.test
 *.iml
+*.tfvars
 
 website/vendor
 
diff --git a/github/data_source_github_repositories.go b/github/data_source_github_repositories.go
index af5d69720e..f8ed1b8473 100644
--- a/github/data_source_github_repositories.go
+++ b/github/data_source_github_repositories.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/google/go-github/v25/github"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/schema"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/validation"
 )
 
 func dataSourceGithubRepositories() *schema.Resource {
@@ -17,15 +18,21 @@ func dataSourceGithubRepositories() *schema.Resource {
 				Type:     schema.TypeString,
 				Required: true,
 			},
+			"sort": {
+				Type:         schema.TypeString,
+				Default:      "updated",
+				Optional:     true,
+				ValidateFunc: validation.StringInSlice([]string{"stars", "fork", "updated"}, false),
+			},
 			"full_names": {
-				Type: schema.TypeSet,
+				Type: schema.TypeList,
 				Elem: &schema.Schema{
 					Type: schema.TypeString,
 				},
 				Computed: true,
 			},
 			"names": {
-				Type: schema.TypeSet,
+				Type: schema.TypeList,
 				Elem: &schema.Schema{
 					Type: schema.TypeString,
 				},
@@ -39,9 +46,15 @@ func dataSourceGithubRepositoriesRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{})
 	client := meta.(*Organization).client
 
 	query := d.Get("query").(string)
+	opt := &github.SearchOptions{
+		Sort: d.Get("sort").(string),
+		ListOptions: github.ListOptions{
+			PerPage: 100,
+		},
+	}
 
 	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Searching for GitHub repositories: %q", query)
-	fullNames, names, err := searchGithubRepositories(client, query)
+	fullNames, names, err := searchGithubRepositories(client, query, opt)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -53,15 +66,10 @@ func dataSourceGithubRepositoriesRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{})
 	return nil
 }
 
-func searchGithubRepositories(client *github.Client, query string) ([]string, []string, error) {
-	fullNames := make([]string, 0, 0)
-	names := make([]string, 0, 0)
+func searchGithubRepositories(client *github.Client, query string, opt *github.SearchOptions) ([]string, []string, error) {
+	fullNames := make([]string, 0)
 
-	opt := &github.SearchOptions{
-		ListOptions: github.ListOptions{
-			PerPage: 100,
-		},
-	}
+	names := make([]string, 0)
 
 	for {
 		results, resp, err := client.Search.Repositories(context.TODO(), query, opt)
diff --git a/github/data_source_github_repositories_test.go b/github/data_source_github_repositories_test.go
index 7561591d50..7c6c30aef9 100644
--- a/github/data_source_github_repositories_test.go
+++ b/github/data_source_github_repositories_test.go
@@ -2,13 +2,14 @@ package github
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/helper/resource"
 )
 
 func TestAccGithubRepositoriesDataSource_basic(t *testing.T) {
-	query := "org:hashicorp terraform"
+	query := "org:hashicorp repository:terraform"
 	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
 		PreCheck: func() {
 			testAccPreCheck(t)
@@ -18,10 +19,35 @@ func TestAccGithubRepositoriesDataSource_basic(t *testing.T) {
 			{
 				Config: testAccCheckGithubRepositoriesDataSourceConfig(query),
 				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
-					resource.TestCheckResourceAttrSet("data.github_repositories.test", "full_names.#"),
-					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "full_names.3450805659", "hashicorp/terraform"),
-					resource.TestCheckResourceAttrSet("data.github_repositories.test", "names.#"),
-					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "names.535570215", "terraform"),
+					resource.TestMatchResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "full_names.0", regexp.MustCompile(`^hashicorp`)),
+					resource.TestMatchResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "names.0", regexp.MustCompile(`^terraform`)),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "sort", "updated"),
+				),
+			},
+		},
+	})
+}
+func TestAccGithubRepositoriesDataSource_Sort(t *testing.T) {
+	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
+		PreCheck: func() {
+			testAccPreCheck(t)
+		},
+		Providers: testAccProviders,
+		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
+			{
+				Config: testAccCheckGithubRepositoriesDataSourceConfigWithSort("org:hashicorp repository:terraform", "updated"),
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					resource.TestMatchResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "full_names.0", regexp.MustCompile(`^hashicorp`)),
+					resource.TestMatchResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "names.0", regexp.MustCompile(`^terraform`)),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "sort", "updated"),
+				),
+			},
+			{
+				Config: testAccCheckGithubRepositoriesDataSourceConfigWithSort("org:hashicorp language:go", "stars"),
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "full_names.0", "hashicorp/terraform"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "names.0", "terraform"),
+					resource.TestCheckResourceAttr("data.github_repositories.test", "sort", "stars"),
 				),
 			},
 		},
@@ -54,3 +80,12 @@ data "github_repositories" "test" {
 }
 `, query)
 }
+
+func testAccCheckGithubRepositoriesDataSourceConfigWithSort(query, sort string) string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf(`
+data "github_repositories" "test" {
+	query = "%s"
+	sort  = "%s"
+}
+`, query, sort)
+}
diff --git a/website/docs/d/repositories.html.markdown b/website/docs/d/repositories.html.markdown
index 38badf7e37..7dfa825a92 100644
--- a/website/docs/d/repositories.html.markdown
+++ b/website/docs/d/repositories.html.markdown
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ The following arguments are supported:
 
 * `query` - (Required) Search query. See [documentation for the search syntax](https://help.github.com/articles/understanding-the-search-syntax/).
 
+* `sort` - (Optional) Sorts the repositories returned by the specified attribute. Valid values include `stars`, `fork`, and `updated`. Defaults to `updated`.
+
 ## Attributes Reference
 
 * `full_names` - A list of full names of found repositories (e.g. `hashicorp/terraform`)