JOUR 11200: J Research

Places to Publish

LIBRARY RESOURCES USED FOR IDENTIFYING PUBLISHERS

PLAN: Find Stories

Once you have decided on a story idea, be sure to brainstorm on key words and subjects.

WIRES BLOGS & ALERTS TWITTER LOCAL

FIND: Existing coverage

What was already written?  Read over secondary resources.
Looking for a particular newspaper, magazine or broadcaster? Search this form by title.

FIND: Background, Experts, facts, images

CREDIBLE REFERENCE SOURCES
GENERAL PERIODICALS
Find experts by limiting to academic, scholarly, or peer reviewed publications.  Also, look at the "Public Policy" guide to the right; many think tanks documents are written by experts (often with a distinct point of view). BOOKS
Experts will also author books. BIOGRAPHY EXPERTS
  • Consider the authors of scholarly books and journal articles,  members of policy think tanks, government officials, and organizations related to the story idea.  
  • When visiting colleges and universities, look for a Media Relations page.
  • SPJ's Journalist's Toolbox lists some additional web resources.
FACTS
  • FactCheck.org
    Annenberg Political fact check site. 
  • Getty
    Provides a gateway to information on museum studies. Includes databases under the "Research Institute" > "Search Tools & Databases" such as: Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), the Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), and the Thesaurus of Geographical Names (TGN). 
  • NASDAQ
    Stock exchange news.
  • PolitiFact
    A project of the St. Petersburg Times, PolitiFact is a website that examines truth in politics.
  • Facts on File World News Digest Includes editorial cartoons & the current World Almanac (see the tab at the top of the page)
  • New York State Statistical Yearbook
    REF DESK HA544 .A2
  • World Almanac and Book of Facts
  • SPJ's Journalist's Toolbox lists some copy editing blogs and writing handbooks.
DIRECTORIES /  SOCIAL NETWORK PUBLIC RECORDS / GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
Many of these resources contain speeches, public records, and laws -- primary sources.
 STATISTICS
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States
    REF HA202 .U5
    The authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. The final edition from the US Census is the 2012 edition.  The 2013 edition forward are availbe at the IC reference desk in print.  The web version from the Census ceased with the 2012 ed.
  • New York State Statistical Yearbook
    REF DESK HA544 .A2
    Annual publication from The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government that covers demographic and population information such as: births, deaths and household characteristics by county and selected cities, economic information, elections, government finances, employment, health, human services, housing, education, criminal justice, agriculture and the environment among others.
  • Statemaster.com
    Compilation of data from several sources. Users can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of state statistics and comparisons.
  • NationMaster
    A central data source and handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD.  Use the search form to generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics.
  • Opensecrets.org (Center for Responsive Politics)
    This site by the Center for Responsive Politics eports on PACs, donors, soft money and lobbyists in U.S. elections.
  • Follow the Money (National Institute on Money in State Politics
    Organization that tracks campain money in state-level elections. 
  • Polling the Nations
    A compilation of public opinion surveys, containing the full text of questions and responses from 14,000 surveys from 1986 to the present in the United States and more than 80 other countries. Each record includes the polling organization responsible for the poll, the sample size and the date the poll was released.
  • OpenElections.net  Free US election data on the state and federal level
  • Census.IRE.org   Investigative Reporters and Editors site to make Census data available
HISTORICAL COVERAGE IMAGES

EVALUATE: for accuracy and fairness

CHECK ALL CONTEXTS: POLITICS, GENDER, CULTURE, RACE, ETHNICITY
  • Alternative Press Index
    Index to articles in alternative news sources. Use to research topics that may not be well covered in the mainstream press; 1991 to current.
  • Black Newspapers
    Black Newspapers is a collection of current newspapers providing access to news from 1989 to the present,including Afro-American Red Star, Call & Post (A&I), Chicago Defender, Houston Post (A&I), Michigan Chronicle, Muslim Journal (A&I), New Journal & Guide (A&I), New York Amsterdam News, and the Los Angeles Sentinel.
  • Ethnic Newswatch
    Ethnic Newswatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Contents include African American, Arab and Middle Eastern, Asian American, European, Jewish, and Native American publications, including the Spanish-language press. 
  • GenderWatch
    GenderWatch is a full-text database containing 140 international publications plus reports, pamphlets, papers and conference proceedings devoted to women's and gender issues. It is a repository of materials on gender issues worldwide, the evolution of the women's movement, and the changes in gender roles over the last twenty years.
  • LGBT life with Full Text
    World's literature regarding Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender issues. (Was GLBT Life with Full Text)
CHECK FACTS (see above)

Contact Us

Picture: Cathy Michael
Communications Librarian
(607) 274-1293

Pulitzer Prize Winners

Take a look at the list of Past winners & finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.  There are many categories such as: Explanatory Journalism, Investigative Reporting, National Reporting, Breaking News, Public Service, Local, etc.

AP Style Manual

There is a copy at the Reference Desk in the library -- just ask the librarian on duty to borrow it.  2011 stylebook and briefing on media law (46th ed, 2011).

Research Method

The following method is loosely based upon a document, Information Literacy Competency Standards for Journalism Students and Professionals. (pdf)

PLAN
  • What information do you need? What is your story idea?
  • Identify what sources are best to use for your story
  • How will the information be obtained? How much will it cost? How long will it take to obtain it?
FIND AND ORGANIZE
  • Create your research strategy. 
  • Make a consultation appointment with Cathy!
  • Accessing information may include using Interlibrary loan, checking out a book, and accessing primary resources.
  • As you work you'll add and subtract information as needed. New questions will emerge.
  • Keep your information organized in a reporters notebook.  Keep citations in Noodlebib, Zotero, or Google documents.
EVALUATE FOR ACCURACY AND FAIRNESS
  • Summarize your information.
  • Access the credibility of your sources and double check all facts.
  • Recognize the cultural, organizational, historical, political and other contexts of the information gathered.
  • Synthesize the information "big picture" and identify additional information based on related ideas or contexts.
  • Consider how the new knowledge found compares to what was previously written.
  • Check public sentiment and expert opinions.
  • Re-focus the story as needed.
DRAFT AND CREATE
  • Draft the story based on guidelines (ex. AP) and media outlet.
  • Quote from you research and paraphrase as needed.  Support claims with data and research.
ETHICS
Follow professional guidlines by the SPJ, Poynter, NPPA, RNTDA and others:
BIBLIOGRAPHIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS

LexisNexis Help: News searching

LexisNexis maintains a wiki of help screens to their product.  The library subscribes to an Academic product for colleges and university. There are other professional and subscription products sold to practitioners; the content may differ based on what is licensed.

Constructing searches: you may need to limit your results using boolean search operators or searching specific sections of a document:
  • Boolean searching  This page lists and defines proximity operators such as w/p (words within the same paragraph), w/s (words within the same sentence), atleast (you can say you want a word to appear atleast5 -- at least 5 times in the article which increases the relevancy), etc.
  • Document Sections Some sections like Headline are built in the search form.  If you want to search by byline, city, company geographic region, person, publication, etc. you may have to write a command search.  This page lists common news and legal document sections that you can try searching on.
These are wiki pages that define specific search forms in LexisNexis Academic:

J Organizations

Here are a few organizations that support or conduct investigative reporting:

BEATS: use Research by Subject sites

Look at other Research by Subject pages for subject specific / beat information:

Primary and Secondary

Refer to this guide to learn the difference between primary and secondary sources.

Frequently asked question: