The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "PDF" ...
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From PDF to Searchable, Sortable Data
Learn how to convert PDFs to a fixed width text file. http://www.kevinschaul.com/2012/02/08/pdf-to-searchable-sortable-table/
Tags: PDF
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PDF utilities
This document provides information on a number of PDF utilities which enable the one to extract data from pdfs.
Tags: pdftotext; pdftk; ImageMagick; tesseract; qpdf;
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Importing data using the Microsoft Excel Import Wizard
Importing data into Microsoft Excel will enhance your reporting by allowing you to do original, in-depth analysis on a variety of different types of information. It's fortunate that Excel can accommodate multiple data formats so you can do basic or complex sorts, filters, pivot tables and more. In this lesson you’ll learn about different data formats, how to identify a format, which ones are Excel-friendly and how to get them into Excel.
Tags: data; excel; import; text file; comma-separated value; database format; html; access file; pdf
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Lighting Talk: Point, Click EXTRACT!
Gebeloff provides a list of options available that provide PDF table conversion.
Tags: PDF; data; table conversion; PDF2XL; ABLE2EXTRACT; XPDF
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Children and Trauma: Interviewing Tips
Black provides interview guidelines for reporters interviewing children who have been through traumatic events. She provides general guidelines, as well as details for interviews at the scene of a crime or disaster; covers interview pointers for past traumas, too. (Available in English and Spanish.)
Tags: children; trauma; disasters; crime; violence; grave illness; guidelines
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Quick shortcut for using PDFTOTEXT
Milholland discusses shortcuts to converting a PDF to text through the use of the PDFTOTEXT application.
Tags: data extraction; data; PDF to textl; converting PDFs
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How to Use "PDFtoTEXT"
Porter gives the step-by-step procedure for downloading "PDFtoTEXT" software and then using it to get data from PDF files that you can search, sort, edit and analyze.
Tags: CAR; data analysis; downloading data; databases; PDF files; Adobe files
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The crime beat: The data & stats of injustice
Milliron's tipsheet highlights what type of data is kept by the criminal justice system, how it is used by law enforcement, and how to get it. It also notes tips on creating your own database and summarizes the crime databases kept by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Additional material, saved as a separate pdf, includes copies of uniform crime reports and a specific listing of the various law enforcement forms and records that are available.
Tags: crime; criminal justice; courts; criminals; records; data; police; law enforcement
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A pattern of suspicion: Analyzing racial profiling data
Lehren gives a brief overview on how to get started in analyzing the data for a story on racial profiling, noting external and internal benchmarks to use for comparisons and pitfalls to avoid. He notes two studies that are of particular help to journalists and available free on the Internet.
Tags: racial profiling; CAR; computer-assisted reporting; race data; logistic regression