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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.

CREDIBLE REFERENCE SOURCES
WIRES ORGANIZATIONS BLOGS & ALERTS LOCAL
FIND: Existing coverage
What was already written?  Read over secondary resources.
  • LexisNexis Academic National, international, news wires, transcripts, polls
  • ProQuest newspapers
    This database's detailed indexing will help you quickly find the news information you need. Each issue of each newspaper is indexed thoroughly, so researchers have access to not only top news stories but also the information contained on the various sections of the papers. The indexing covers not only complete bibliographic information but also companies, people, products, etc.
  • InfoTrac custom newspapers
    InfoTrac Newsstand provides access to more than 1,000 major U.S. regional, national and local newspapers as well as leading titles from around the world.
  • Newspaper source

    Provides access to both national and international newspapers, and contains abstracts and indexing from the following papers (cover to cover): the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and USA Today. Abstracting and indexing for all titles and full text for the Christian Science Monitor begins 1/1/95. Coverage includes everything except obituaries (exclusive of famous people), sports tables, ads/classifieds, stock prices, and weather.

    Additional data provided by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News: full text articles from 105 contributor newspapers. Additional data also provided by Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service: full text articles from 40 contributor newspapers. Total coverage includes over 500,000 articles.

  • New York State Newspapers

    A database of several newspapers published in the state of New York, including the Buffalo News, Herald American (Syracuse), Indian Country Today (Oneida), New York Daily News, New York Observer (NY), New York Post (NY), New York Times, Newsday (Melville), Post-Standard (Syracuse), Post-Star (Glens Falls), Times Herald-Record (Middletown), Times Union (Albany), and the Watertown Daily Times. 

  • Ithaca Journal
    A searchable index of the Ithaca Journal newpaper from November 2002 to the present.  Cited articles can be viewed on microfilm and in the print edition (for articles published in the last six months).
  • Ithacan (Ithaca College Student Newspaper)
    Historical issues of the Ithaca College student newspaper (1926-2002). Searchable by word  for every article, photograph caption, and advertisement from the newspaper.  Search current issues at The Ithacan Online.
FIND: Background, biographies, facts, images
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
  • Biography in Context
    Biographical information on people worldwide throughout history across all disciplines. This resource contains entries from a variety of encyclopedia resources.
  • LexisNexis Academic Search using the Research People box to access obituaries, elected officials, industry leaders, etc. Contains Marquis Who's Who. 
FACTS DIRECTORIES PUBLIC RECORDS / GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS
Many of these resources contain speeches, public records, and laws -- primary sources.
 STATISTICS
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States
    The authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
  • New York State Statistical Yearbook
    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. Editions are available online from 2002 to current.
  • 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.
  • 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.
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)
Subject Specialist
Picture: Cathy Michael

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

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

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

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:
Primary and Secondary
Refer to this guide to learn the difference between primary and scondary sources.

Frequently asked question: 
Top reference books in print
Ref=back right corner of the 2nd floor: RefDesk=behind the ref desk on the 2nd floor. Reference materials don’t circulate. You can scan for free (bring a flash drive or borrow one from Circ.).

Associated Press (AP) stylebook and briefing on media law
REF PN4783 .A83
45th ed, 2010. Journalism style manual that includes basic media law information.
 

Bacon's Magazine Directory  Ref Z86 .P4 B33   Print. Very complete directory of magazines.

Bacon's Newspaper Directory Ref Z86 .N48 B33 Print. Very complete directory of newspapers
 
Dickman Directory RefDesk F129 .I8 D53
Annual. In this “criss cross” directory you can look up Tompkins County residents by their last names or by street address. Also gives a “wealth code” for each street to provide businesses, journalists, etc. with a sense of how prosperous the homeowners are. Claims to be more complete than typical phone directories.
 
Editor & Publisher international year book RefDesk PN4700 .E42
Newspaper directory: v.1 Dailies, v.2 Weeklies, v.3 Contacts (A-Z)
 
New York Red Book RefDesk JK3430 .N5 (prior editions in general stacks)
Annual. Handbook to New York state representatives, judiciary, state department, etc.  Library has from 1897+ (some are missing).
 
New York State Statistical Yearbook RefDesk HA544 .A2 2008
Contains data for each of the state’s 62 counties including the 5 boroughs of New York City. Also online: http://rockinst.org/nys_statistics/
 
Statistical Abstract of the United States  RefDesk HA202 .U5
Annual. Contains basic social and economic statistics for the United States.
Also online: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
 
United States Government Manual RefDesk JK421 .A3
Annual. Provides basic information about the U.S. government including legislative, judicial, and executive department information as well as international and quasi-governmental agencies with whom the government is affiliated. Describes where an agency is located, who is in charge, an overview of the agency, organizational charts, and places to obtain more detailed information. Available online through the Government Printing Office’s website:http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html
 
World Almanac  RefDesk AY67 .N5 W7
Annual. Maps, Flags, the cost of stamps, area codes, statistics – a little bit of everything. Also online through the library database list.
 
Writer’s Market  RefDesk PN161 .W83
Annual. “Where & How to sell what you write.” Lists magazines, journals, etc.