Skip to Content

JOUR 11100 Intro to Journalism

Guide: Objectives
This Guide will cover basic skills for collecting information such as:
  • How to find a citation
  • Selecting a database
  • Planning your search strategy
  • Sample searches for types of information: Biography, News, Business, & Websites
Finding a Citation
You want to find this citation:
Rogers, P. (2010). Eclectic, entertaining and educational--The 21st century science beat. Nieman Reports, 64(4), 35-37. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
  1. Examine your citation and determine the journal title (NOT the article title).  In this case it is the Nieman Reports.
  2. Click on the Articles tab on the library's homepage.  Under the "Journals" box, type your title in the box after "Title begins with" and click go.  You'll access a screen displaying the library's fulltext access to either print, microfilm, or electronic resources.  If there is none, you'll see a link to borrow the article via Interlibrary Loan.
  3. Examine the volume and year of your citation. The volume in the citation above is 64 and it was published in 2010.  Compare this information to the fulltext holdings.  Communication and Mass Media Completehas the Nieman Reports from 1996 to present.
  4. You can click on the year 2010, choose issue 4, and then browse to the article OR you can click on "Search within this publication" ; put the author's last name in the second box + choose AU author from the drop-down menu ; put a keyword from the title such as "Eclectic" in the third box and choose TI from the drop-down menu; hit search.  This should bring your right to the fulltext!  If you did not receive results, double-check your spelling.
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.
Database Selection by Subject / Beat
Look at other Research Guides > subjects page for subject specific / "beat" information. Many library subject guides list out top resources for each subject area.  I'll link to a key database for each but it is good to search two or three:
Try and identify top journals or newswires in your field and set up email or RSS alerts.  Alerts can be done directly from the journals website  For example, if you are on the Entertainment beat, set up alerts to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.  Library databases offer alerts but require you to create accounts; library databases may offer fulltext holdings whereas the online journal may offer partial full-text to non-subscribers. 
Research Strategy Worksheet
Access this page in MS Word: Research Strategy Worksheet doc

1. Write down your research topic / story idea and circle the keywords:
 
 
2. Consider the key words you've circled.  Are there broader, narrower or related terms that can be searched? Write down these alternative keywords and use them to write a search strategy. Like terms are ORd together.

KEYWORDS:                                                      

SEARCH STRATEGY:
 
 
3. What are the subjects of the terms? Write down 1 or 2 subjects and corresponding databases. Subjects can be: art, business, politics, science, etc.

SUBJECT 1:                                                SELECT THIS DATABASE:

SUBJECT 2:                                                SELECT THIS DATABASE:
 
4. Consider how you can use a variety of sources for your story idea.  If you're not sure, consult with Cathy. 
TYPES OF RESOURCES
EXAMPLES OF SPECIFIC RESOURCES
       REFERENCE
(Generally: biographies, dictionaries, directories, almanacs, encyclopedias, etc.)
BOOKS
       JOURNAL ARTICLES
BIOGRAPHICAL RESOURCES
WEBSITES:
Organizational & governmental information
Thomas (legislation) http://thomas.loc.gov/
Policy Archive: (think tanks): http://www.policyarchive.org/
Google Blog Search (opinions)  http://www.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en
LEGAL RESOURCE
LexisNexis Academic (case law, codes, law reviews)
BUSINESS RESOURCES
NEWSPAPERS &
TRANSCRIPTS
LexisNexis (national and international news & transcripts)
New York State Newspapers
SPECIALTY (Ethnic Newswatch , Alternative Press Index , GenderWatch )
PHOTOJOURNALISM (AP Images )
        STATISTICS & Polls Statistical Abstract of the United States
Polling the Nations
 

Subject Specialist
Picture: Cathy Michael

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

Related Guides:
Related journalism guides:
Library Writing and Research guides:
  • Findiing Articles: this guide has screen shots
  • Noodlebib Users' Guide: use Noodlebib to assist you in citing sources.
  • Search Strategies: discusses search strategy construction including Boolean search language and truncation.
  • Writing and Citing: this is a tab on the library's website that includes self-help learning widgets, links to citation manuals and citing software, and additional guides for scholarly writing.
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:
Evaluating Websites, Media Relations
Use the following criteria:
  • Accuracy: can you spot spelling errors or “fishy” statements?
  • Authority: who wrote the information on the website?    Is the author/s a professional or professional organization? Try and find out more about them.
  • Objectivity:  after reading about the purpose for the site, does the author or organization have a point of view that might slant or present information falsely? Check the “about” page). Is there a political slant? Are there advertisements; is someone trying to sell you an idea or product? 
  • Currency: when was the website last updated? Check the bottom of the page. Are there broken links? When was the latest information posted?
  • Appearance and layout:  does it appear professionally arranged? Does it load with ease?
Question everything, but generally official U.S./state government (.gov) and education (.edu) sites are more trustworthy than commercial (.com) and personal websites. 

Note that big corporations will often have a Media Relations page; for example, here is one from Chesapeake Energy.  Also look for Media Relations when seeking experts at colleges and universities; for example here is Ithaca College's Media Relations page. Organizations will also have contacts; for example, Shaleshock.  Government representatives always have multiple ways to contact them; for example Rep. Maurice Hinchey, or, the Department of Enviornmental Conservation.  Seek a variety of perspectives from people in business, government, academic, and individual citizens.
 
Ethics
Codes of Ethics for Journalists (a select list)
Plagairism