DATE

Week 1

Discussion of academic integrity, including plagiarism, and the university's new  honor code.

Getting started with campus  campus computing and the Internet, including activating your e-mail account and obtain an IdentiKey key. 

Week 2

Searching full-text electronic libraries. 

Exploring search engines and directories.

Evaluating Websites and sources.

More about:Boolean logic, databasesand researching strategically.

1) Chapter  1, "Precision Journalism" (handout) by Philip Meyer

2) "Stepchild' area fights blight" by Burt Hubbard, Rocky Mountain News

3) Review "Evaluation of Resources" link at the top of this page
 

Assignment due by the start of class:

-- Use whatever resources you can find at your disposal (i.e. Google, Lexis-Nexis) and  research the West Nile virus in Colorado. Find a part of the story you would want to pursue and email your instructor with the idea and three good sources of information you found during your searches.
 

Week 3
 

1) People Finders/Public Records from Poynter Institute. 

2)  Evaluating Information Online

Assignment due by the start of class: 

-- Use Lexis Nexis  to do research on a subject from your Newsgathering class beat (or a subject of interest to you if you don't yet have a beat yet or are not enrolled in that course). 1) Describe three good  stories you find and how you changed search terms and/or techniques to narrow the search. 2) Do the same thing using Google and find three Web pages/sites that gave you solid information for your subject. 3) Evaluate one of those Web pages/sites using the Evaluation of Resources criteria linked from the class page.

Week 4

Federal and state campaign contributions

1) Getting Started with Excel 

2) "Web stumps county offices," Sept. 25, 2001; Boulder Daily Camera.

3)  "A Blue Wall of Silcence," The Washington Post, July 1, 2001.  Read the four main articles and examine the rest of the package. 

Week 5

CSAP

Week 6

American Factfinder

Excel-generated graphics

Database retrieval assigned
 

The American Editor:

    1) "Census floodgates about to open again," by David Yarnold

          www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=4763 
                    and
          www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=4764

     2) "Accessing census data is easy, but...," by Steve H. Murdock

          www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=3585
 

Assignment due by the start of class: 
1) Go to http://newmedia.colorado.edu/course2/pages/59.html and bring the chart into Excel..
2) Clean up the data, headers, etc., 
3) Using Excel, do some math (a little or a lot, it's your choice) on 2001 vs. 2002 to see the impact of budget problems.*
4) Send your instructor a paragraph describing what story ideas a journalist could've picked out of the data.**

     * You may want to print out a copy and bring it to class for use during a discussion.

     **If you have time, use Lexis-Nexis to see if the Boulder Daily Camera published any of those stories.  You can also use the Camera Web site, but it may not provide stories that far back.

Week 7

For backgrounding environmental stories, see:

CU Libraries online research guide to environmental issues

CEJ/CU Libraries searchable database of environmental information sources

Final project discussion

Week 8

Week 9

Demonstration of Quickinfo.

Discussion of issues related to privacy.

Public Records

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12
 

FINAL PROJECT WORK SESSSION

Week 13

FINAL PROJECT WORK SESSION
 

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16