5 tips for using PubPeer to investigate scientific research errors and misconduct
PubPeer, a website where scholars critique one another’s work, is an excellent investigative reporting tool. These five tips will help you make the best use of it.
Know Your Research
Tip sheets and explainers to help journalists understand academic research methods, find and recognize high-quality research, and avoid missteps when reporting on new studies and public opinion polls
Expert Commentary
Story ideas from the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book: July 2023
From a booming bicycle industry in Little Rock, Arkansas to a central Minnesota restaurant that bought an apartment building for its employees to live in, our semi-regular rundown of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book is full of fresh story ideas.
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Academic journals that give journalists free access
Some journalists might not realize that many academic journals let them bypass their paywalls. We show you which ones and how to set up free accounts.
Expert Commentary
8 ways journalists can access academic research for free
A lot of academic research exists behind paywalls. We outline eight ways reporters can get free access to high-quality scholarship.
Expert Commentary
Using ‘per capita’ to describe data: 4 things journalists need to know
An economist and a statistician help us explain the right and wrong ways to use ‘per capita’ to describe data related to economics, public health and other news topics.
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Organizing your research: A scientist’s tips for journalists
Maya Gosztyla, a Ph.D. candidate in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at the University of California San Diego, provides an overview of literature mapping tools, RSS feeds, research management software and databases to help journalists organize their research.
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10 simple data errors that can ruin an investigation
Several data journalists discuss common data errors that have threatened or even ruined past investigative journalism projects. Read on to avoid these errors yourself.
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Don’t say ‘prove’: How to report on the conclusiveness of research findings
This tip sheet explains why it’s rarely accurate for news stories to report that a new study proves anything — even when a press release says it does.
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Need US government data? Get to know TRAC at Syracuse University
Whether you are investigating the immigration system or activities of federal criminal and civil courts, TRAC has done the FOIA work to obtain data that can bolster your reporting.
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Using academic research to do investigative journalism: 5 tips from our webinar
For those who couldn’t attend our recent training, here are some of the tips Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Neil Bedi, criminologist Rachel Lovell and I shared.
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