Chuck
Stone High School
Diversity Workshop
June 25, 2007 Carroll
Hall, Room 141
Session: Research Sources and Strategies
for Students and Journalists
Presentation by: Barbara
P. Semonche, Park Library Director
AGENDA
Welcome, Announcements,
Handouts, Introductory
Remarks
What I hope you remember from this session:
Despite all your efforts,
you might not find what you are seeking; in that case, rethink your
question, consult with info pros/super searchers, and try again. The quality
of your questions have a big impact on the quality of your results.
The Internet has a lot of
information, but not everything. What is available may be incorrect,
incomplete, or out of date. Some material is protected by copyright,
trademark, and privacy issues and may not be accessible. Other material may
be maliciously posted to tempt the naive or unwary searcher. Keep your guard
up.
Online databases, even
though they may be accessible on the web, are different. Frequently, they
are commercial and fee based. Full-text archives are, for the most part, in
online databases. Databases and search engines all have different search
protocols. Take time to learn what each resource offers and how best to
access that information.
Not all search engines cover
the same resources; you may have to use more than one. [Note: check this
2007 research paper
Different Engines, Different Results: Web searchers not always finding what
they're looking for online."]
Responsible journalists,
scholars, students spend at least as much time searching and researching as writing
and re-writing. And
they rely upon news librarians/researchers to help them.
No one can trust
information, data, completely no matter where it comes from (print, digital,
personal interview). Also, some search results may be confusing because you
discover those results may not be consistent with data found from other sources. Don't be
surprised. This happens to expert searchers. They learn to craft their
search questions more carefully and try again. Become skeptical of what you read, hear, see. If it is
too good to be true, it probably is. Check data at least twice (maybe more) and with
known reputable resources.
Research Sources:
Internet search engines (Tip:
read the Help Screens!)
Note carefully the links on the left side of the screen: Feature Chart, News
Searches, Directories, Phone Numbers.
Online library catalogs (UNC
Online Catalog) Note carefully the
links to other catalogs in the area and in the country.
Newspapers (includes lists of U.S. dailies, college and high school
newspapers; also statistics, trends, and archives)
Online full-text databases (Mostly fee-based archival services)
UNC Eresources:
[Note: demonstrations of searches & key search
terms;
see handouts for more research questions & answers. ]
CQ Researcher: "media bias," "blogs,"
Communication & Mass Media Complete:
"journalism ethics or media ethics"
Issues & Controversies
"student journalism"
LexisNexis Academic: "minority journalists,"
"ethnic media," "newspapers and diversity,
"minorities and broadcasters"
New York Times Historical Newspaper:
NYT's front-page of Princess Diana's funeral
Sept. 7, 1997
Newsbank
"mountain-top removal"
Wikis,
Blogs,
RSS Feeds, and
Intranets
[Note: search for news stories about a Louisville Courier-Journal
reporter/blogger ejected from a Collegiate World Series game because he was
sending "live feed" to his blog. Why was he ejected when he had press
credentials to cover the game?]
Podcasting sites
o
NPR
Social networking sites
[Note:
Use of SNS in Investigations;
List of Social Networking Services;
Virtual
Communities] Demonstrate the example of what happened to two
reporters and the editor of a North Carolina newspaper, The Reidsville
Review, when that paper published a photo and fabricated quotes of
someone found on Facebook.com.
Research tests (with answers!)
Prof. Shumaker's 21 questions (with answers from print resources)
Prof.
Shumaker's 21 questions (with answers from eresources)
Real life research stories from news librarians [Note: Very helpful search tips here from several newspaper super searchers]:
Tom Pellegrene's (Journal Gazette) story about finding spelling bee champions over a 50 year period.
Caryn Baird's (St. Petersburg Times) stories about using the "site" search feature in Google to find a poker-playing criminal, description of "light, sweet crude oil," and a U.S. professor who does research on Albania.
Linda Deitch (The Columbus Dispatch) describes a search strategy designed to find as much as possible about the murdered wife of a former police officer suspected of the crime.
Nancy Ramirez (The Fresno Bee) collaborated on retrieving vital information leading to the solving of a cold-case murder.
Patricia Sharp (Univ. of Pittsburgh Reference & Instruction Librarian) helped a student track down data on the current percentage of women in U.S. colleges or universities who have the rank of full or associate professor. This is a long, detailed search.
Kathy Foley (San Antonio Express-News) demonstrates how searching for podcasts can be a new and useful source of information for journalists.
Emily Glenn (ACUHO-I at Ohio State University) describes a series of step-by-step research strategies using the Census Bureau's data.
Patti Graziano (retired from The Cleveland Plain Dealer) encourages searching real estate and other public records.
Diane Lamb (Greensboro News & Record)
urges use of quick stat sites such as "Factfinder."
Journalists' & news librarians' top-rated web sites
| Librarian's
Index http://lii.org/ |
| Reference Desk http://www.refdesk.com |
| Library
Spot http://www.libraryspot.com |
| McAdams:
We know where to look it up. http://www.well.com/user/mmcadams/reference.html |
| SLA News
Division: Reference Tools http://ibiblio.org/slanews/reference |
|
UC-Berkeley Library's Training Guides to: Search Engines Meta-Search Engines Subject Searching "Googling to the Max" Invisible or Deep Web Searching Boolean Search Techniques Internet & Web Jargon Glossary Evaluating Web Pages Style Sheets for Citing Web Sources |
>The Journalist's Personal Ready Reference Resource Tool Kit:
Current reference books (print format) [List includes almanacs, atlases, dictionaries, directories, style manuals, quotations, local histories, statistical abstracts, math textbook, thesaurus. See also this link for a classified listing of valuable news reference and research sources ]
Trusted colleagues
Personal Rolodex or electronic "experts" directory
Vetted web sites and intranets
Project Excellence in Journalism (weekly content analysis news index)
>Semonche's Sources and Strategies for
Reference and Research:
Fact
finding vs. research: journalists should be acquainted with the range of
strategies required at these two extremes of research.
Basic
Steps:
|
Second
Efforts:
|
Dead
Serious Searching:
|
The Future: Accu-meters? Stat-proofers?
Fact-verifiers? Plagia-alerts?
Plagiarism
detection tools are used at a few newspapers: [Note: not foolproof! June/July
2004 issue of American Journalism Review published a long article about
plagiarism and fact checking in news organizations. ]
"Students Rebel Against Database Designed to Thwart Plagiarists" The Washington Post, September 22, 2006, page A1.
Error Terrrors: Cyber hoaxes, Net traps, Urban Myths, Lies:
| http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blhoax.htm | http://www.cert.org/ |
Episode of
John
Seigenthaler, Sr. on Wikipedia
[Note bene: One lesson to be learned from Seigenthaler's experience is that while it might
be OK to start research on Wikipedia, it's not wise to stop there.
But this assessment
follows for all other encyclopedias and
tertiary research materials. Another lesson is that while
Wikipedia's open source structure makes it very difficult to track the
writers/editors of articles, it does follow full disclosure principles as
noted in its open posting of the hoax perpetrated
on John Seigenthaler, Sr. ]
>Invisible Web? [Note: there is variance in what search engines will search/retrieve.]
Databases are on the web, but . . . search engines don't search/retrieve content from databases
Sites requiring registration or login
Archives (content from newspapers and magazines, etc.) are not found via search engines
Interactive tools (calculators, etc.)
Search engine protocols (e.g., URLs with ? )
>Useful, but not infallible, web sites:
|
Intranets
: Indianapolis Star's Library "FactFiles" The Tennessean Library's "NewsSpot" |
NewsLib (News research email list for over 1,200 subscribers from 30 countries) Wikis in the Newsroom |
| Personal Rolodex; Sources & Experts |
Email lists Blogs |
SUMMARY: Sevent Caveats of Smart Fact
Checking and Serious Researching
[Note: there may be more.]
| 1. Effective fact checking is as much about attitude as it is about techniques and tools. A willingness to be surprised is an indication of an open mind. A closed mind is a good thing to lose. [Anonymous] |
| 2. No book, journal, database, newspaper, magazine, Web site, reference book is without error. The same is true for so-called experts and even veteran fact checkers. A copy editor's best approach is a polite skepticism, eternal vigilance and a wise selection of reasonably reliable sources. [Mention Wikipedia.] |
| 3. Errors are easy to make and difficult to correct. They rarely look different from verifiable facts. Further, in the high-speed digital age, they have the half life of a radioactive isotope. They are nearly impossible to purge from electronic resources. Database quality suffers. [Note: The NYT Blair case's impact on "poisoning the archival well."] |
|
4. Reliable fact checking skills
require continuous training. Take time to learn the unique attributes of new print and online sources; also, find time to review your older favorites. |
|
5. Fact checking, while admirable, is
not a growth industry. For the most part it is a "do-it-yourself" activity. Still, don't neglect help from other qualified folks. Actively seek help from proven talent. |
| 6. When you are certain that you are absolutely right about a fact, check further. |
| 7. Avoid making beta errors correcting alpha mistakes. |
>CORRECTIONS:
REGRET THE ERROR: Mistakes Happen
[Note: links to 50 newspaper corrections,
10 magazine corrections,
3 broadcast station corrections,
13 ombudsmen.]