The journalistic method: Five principles for blending analysis and narrative
Columbia Journalism School’s Nicholas Lemann explains a series of rules that can help journalists successfully integrate research and reporting.
Tip Sheets
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Getting started with data visualization: A quick primer to jump-start the process
2016 tip sheet on using visualization software and applications to create charts, maps and other visual or interactive storytelling elements.
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Covering the financial markets intelligently
Overview of how to write stories about the markets, including stocks, bonds and more
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Reporting with Web and social media data: Some helpful tools
2016 tip sheet explaining several online tools that journalists can use to analyze Web traffic and social media patterns, including patterns related to popular search terms, hashtags and URLs.
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Crowdsourced projects and skewed results: Research findings on participation and social influence factors
2015 and 2011 papers in PNAS that highlight dynamics within crowdsourcing projects and provide notes of caution around factors that can produce weaker or even flawed results.
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The growing problem of Internet “link rot” and best practices for media and online publishers
Ten linking “best practices,” with an emphasis on stability and transparency. The goal is to reduce the chance that links will go bad, minimize the work going forward and maximize the utility for users.
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Using Python to scrape a website and gather data: Practicing on a criminal justice dataset
Tutorial on how to use the programming language Python to scrape website data from a local county prison roster. The exercise highlights website source code and data structures.
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Writing about a research study: Good examples of using scholarship in reporting
2015 roundup of studies and related news articles that provide material for studying and improving techniques and approaches to writing about research.
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Statistical terms used in research studies: A primer for media
From “sample” to “confounding variables,” a compilation of useful statistical concepts with which journalism students and working journalists should be familiar.
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Tools for verifying and assessing the validity of social media and user-generated content
2015 Overview of tools that can help journalists assess the reliability of materials generated by users and diffused through social media
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