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 "illustrations" ...
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Sports Science and Medicine: Gettnig Beyond the Gee-Wiz Story
Epstein lists and describes some interesting sports investigations that any reporter could do, anywhere in the country. Examples include pre-participation screening of high school athletes and analyzing nutritional supplements.
Tags: sports; beat reporting; athletes; sources; high school athletes
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You have the right to remain silent: FOIA in the Bush Administration
This powerpoint presentation discusses how policy regarding the Freedom of Information Act has changed in recent years. Cochran uses graphs and charts to illustrate trends in the amount of data requests filed and number actually filled by the government. He also discusses the appeals process, and speculates about how the issue may change in the future.
Tags: FOIA; open records; federal government; Bush administration
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Crunching Contracts: A Rough Guide for Dissecting Data from the Military Mines
This guide is meant to help reporters and researchers navigate their way through the reams of government contracting data made available online or through vendors such as the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR). Fabey includes a lot of screen shots to illustrate his instructions.
Tags: defense; contracts; data anlysis; federal government; military; SQL
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Access Q&A: Dangerous Dams
This tipsheet is an exercise in Microsoft Access analysis, using a database of dam inspections as an example. Even if you don\'t have the dam database at your fingertips to practice, the second portion of this tipsheet may still be useful. LaFleur shares the answers to the exercise questions, illustrated by many screen shots and lots of query language.
Tags: Microsoft Access; database analysis; practice exercise; dam inventory; SQL
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Hunting for Trends in Data
LaFleur uses a database of Wisconsin hunting accidents to illustrate how to look for trends in data. This 18 page tipsheet is full of screen shots that show how to structure queries in Access in order to reveal patterns and trends in data.
Tags: hunting accidents; database analysis; SQL; Microsoft Access
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Downloading Campaign Finance Reports from Cal-Access
Campbell goes step-by-step through the process of downloading campaign finance data from the CA Secretary of State site. He uses screen shots to illustrate his instructions.
Tags: campaign finance; government data; data analysis; online sources; election
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Making CAR stories sing (or numbers are dull, people are not)
Pyle says "think people" when choosing topics. Use your data to pinpoint people who illustrate it, then find them. Back up your data with experts and documents, and use alternative storytelling techniques.
Tags: data; micro; macro; multiple platforms; focus; graphics; building your own database; narrative lines
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Mapping Data for News Stories & Graphics
This Powerpoint presentation showcases many examples of how to successfully use mapping to add more depth and context to news stories. Herzog includes examples of reporting that utilized mapping, and explains how the maps increased the quality of reporting. Some of the examples offered include stories about Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew. Herzog also explains how to create maps in ArcView.
Tags: mapping; GIS; data analysis; ArcView; ArcGIS; graphics; illustrations
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Don't Know Much About Algebra: Math in the Newsroom
This PowerPoint presentation provides a plan on how to use math and understand statistics, and disseminate these numbers in an understandable way in stories. Questions such as mean vs. median are used to illustrate the importance of knowing how to incorporate numbers, and which statistics to use in reporting.
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You have the right to remain silent: FOIA in the Bush Administration
This powerpoint presentation discusses how policy regarding the Freedom of Information Act has changed in recent years. Cochran uses graphs and charts to illustrate trends in the amount of data requests filed and number actually filled by the government. He also discusses the appeals process, and speculates about how the issue may change in the future.
Tags: FOIA; public records; federal government; Department of Defense; Bush; Rumsfeld; privacy; data negotiation