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This page is a great one to bookmark if you spend a lot of time looking for stuff on the web. If you are a student in my journalism class, this page is a companion to my CAR project.
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SEARCH 101 Computer-Assisted Reporting | CAR
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This page is a great one to bookmark if you spend a lot of time looking for stuff on the web. If you are a student in my journalism class, this page is a companion to my CAR project.
SEARCH 101
Computer-Assisted Reporting | CAR
Search Engines | Portals & All-in-One Searches | Reporter Resources | News | Government & Legal
| Education & Georgia | Scams Hoaxes & Myths | Desktop Reference | Misc. & Fun
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In addition to just hitting your browser's search button, there are many search engines, data bases, collections and archives that will help a reporter available online. These are ones I find useful (I marked my favorites with ***), but a little research should turn up some more. If you find a good one, e-mail it to me; I'd appreciate it. And don't forget old-fashioned research in the library. |
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General Searches
How about an entire library on the web? Called The Internet Public Library, 'natch. http://www.ipl.org/ Need to find a name, e-mail address, phone number? A great place to start. Search Online is part of a site that helps people get off mailing lists. http://www.csn.net/~felbel/search.html Using Britannica Online is a lot easier than lifting all the encyclopedias. And you don't have to dust as often. http://www.eb.com Even the best search engines only explore about 30% of the pages out there. Rated #1 in 1997 is HotBot, one of the major players. http://www.hotbot.com/ Also rated #1 by the November 1998 issue of Yahoo! Internet Life is Northern Light. http://www.northernlight.com/ FindMail received the top spot for best mailing list search engine. http://www.egroups.com/ PRESTOLINK.COM. This site was designed for ease of use and is not a search engine (but I put it here anyway. similar to What can you do on the WWW in the section below). Our intent is to help internet beginners and busy people find specific information as quickly and easily as possible. PRESTOLINK.COM provides easy to follow links to the best sites in a wide array of categories. We like to refer to these sites as the Award Winners.http://www.prestolink.com/
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Specific Searches
A new and improved (and easier to use) Lexis-Nexis Universe is a great - and free - way to find info on a variety of topics. The section "General News" is a quick way to search major newspapers for any topic of your choosing. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe (***) An excellent site - and you can quote me: Famous quotations and sayings, by famous people from the past and the present: The project is non-profit and was created for informational and educational purposes. Nolo. No kidding. A plain English portal for legal information. http://WWW.nolo.com/ Besides information, ever want a picture or graphic, or even a sound? Lycos Pictures & Sounds Search. http://www.lycos.com/lycosmedia.html (***) GOSHEN Christian Search Engine and Directory Still can't find it? Maybe your online search skills need some sharpening. Check out Search Engine Resource. http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ Top honors for best shareware search engine? Zdnet at http://www.zdnet.com/swlib/ Search GuideStar's database of more than 850,000 IRS-recognized nonprofit organizations. http://www.guidestar.org/index.jsp History Buff. History through the view of newspapers. http://www.historybuff.com/index.html Com Arts Like the magazine. If this is your field, you'll find it here. http://www.commarts.com/index.html
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Search Portals | All-in-one Searches |
*** One of my favorites - Just to get you started, check out What can you do on the World Wide Web? It's impressive, though mainly for fun. It's great to demonstrate the power of the web. http://it.stlawu.edu/~tdil/index1.htm (***) Considered the best all-in-one search engine - Google. http://www.google.com (***) Having said that, how about a search engine that compiles what other search engines find? It's called MetaCrawler and it's one of my favorites. http://www.metacrawler.com/ (***) |
Best Search Engines on the Internet ~ Surf Fast.com: The search engine of search engines. Choose the Best Search Engine for Your Information Needs MetaFind Your Search Spot on the Net Welcome to Dogpile, the Friendly Multi-Engine Search Tool (***) The Mining Co. - Professional expert guidance from hundreds of Guides for thousands of topics |
Reporter Resources & Writer References |
Like a lot of fields, investigative reporters and editors maintain their own site. It's called, of course, Investigative Reporters & Editors. This site even has an online CAR tutorial! http://www.ire.org/ The Student Press Law Center is a group of lawyers that specialize in constitutional law and the First Amendment and a nonprofit organization that aids the student press. A great source for new reporters. http://www.splc.org/ (***) The National Student Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press offer plenty of resources for the newbee online reporter at their site, NSPA & ACP. http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/ (***) How EASY can they make it for you? ACP/NSPA Sourcebook is kept at the same site. http://studentpress.journ.umn.edu/sourcebook.html FACSNET is a service for journalists provided by FACS in partnership with the San Diego Supercomputer Center. FACS received support from the following news organizations in launching FACSNET: A.H. Belo Corp., Chicago Tribune, CNN, Cox Newspapers, The Dallas Morning News, The Detroit News, Gannett Co., Hearst Newspapers, Los Angeles Times, Media General, NBC, Phoenix Newspapers, and the E.W. Scripps Company. http://www.facsnet.org/cgi-bin/facsnet.cgi?alpha=MwMu15UUVAns20 THE JOURNALIST'S RESOURCE SITE Eric Friedheim Library - Reporter's Resources S.C. Press Association Reporter Resources (Out of South Carolina, but still good info) The Top Ten Or So Most-Used Can't Live Without Them Web Sites for Journalists: (Cut & paste this one:) http://www.nicar.org/conferences/cleveland-9510//handouts/hand2.html Power Reporting Bookmarks, free sources for backgrounding people, companies and issues: http://PowerReporting.com The Pulitzer Prizes Enough said. Newspaper advertising and business - you know, the people who make money: cnbam - College Newspaper Business & Advertising Managers, Inc. Yahoo! Directory: News and Media > Journalism. The place to start in Journalism queries. http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Journalism/ |
Political Reporters' Resources - Project Vote Smart Welcome to the Georgia Press Association! Words that should be banned for life New Reporter's Drive-in! (done by a KSU alumni!) The Write News, a newspaper index, is a searchable list of online papers and magazines. I'm sure you can find others, but in the mean time....http://www.writenews.com/newslinks/ My Virtual Reference Desk can connect you to media around the globe. http://www.refdesk.com/ For the web's largest collection of topics and assistance for academic research, visit Researchpaper.com - just don't cheat, ok? http://www.researchpaper.com/ THE SLOT: A Spot for Copy Editors Strunk, William. 1918. The Elements of Style. (***) Comprehensive Resources For Writers at www.execpc.co...ls/write.html National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting: NICAR is a program of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. and the Missouri School of Journalism. Founded in 1989, NICAR has trained thousands of journalists in the practical skills of finding, prying loose and analyzing electronic information. http://nicar.org/ (***) Power Reporting: tools for journalists. The home page is great too; this is their collection of links for journalists. http://powerreporting.com/category/Journalism_shoptalk/Links How about some sites about journalism ethics?
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News |
For just a simple, no frills recap of the top news stories, try Reuters Hourly News Summary. Yes, its updated every hour. http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/news/summary.html (***)
Don't forget the news organization's home, Reuters: Home Page. http://www.reuters.com/
Need local news? Try Access Atlanta. http://www.accessatlanta.com/
Info Junkie. A news search engine. http://www.infojunkie.com/
The Opinion Pages. Access to the most current editorials, opinions, commentaries and columnists from English newspapers and magazines on the World Wide Web. http://www.opinion-pages.org/
Ethnic and minority news? http://www.softlineweb.com/softlineweb/ethnic.htm
Truth can be stranger than fiction. A LOT stranger. Check out News of the Weird at www.newsoftheweird.com/
Government & Legal |
White House most requested services: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Services/
The Nolo.com self help law library is a GREAT source and jumping off-point. A bit commercial (sigh), but they even include lawyer jokes! http://www.nolo.com/
The World Factbook is prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency - need we say more? http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/ (***)
Need statistics? Federal ones are maintained at The White House Briefing Room. http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/html/briefroom.html#fsbr
Fedstats: One stop shopping for federal statistics. http://www.fedstats.gov/
For more stats, try the US Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/
Pick a law, any law. Thank goodness they don't charge by the hour. FindLaw: Internet Legal Resources http://www.findlaw.com/ (***)
Need to know more about your congressmen and women? Jump to Your Congress page. Don't know your reps or district? Just click on the Zipit! icon and enter your zip code. http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Need some great background on constitutional or media law? Concept Paper on Media Law- CEELI - American Bar Association
Education & Georgia |
U.S. Department of Education (ED) Home Page
The Chronicle of Higher Education is THE national (and international) newspaper covering the higher education beat. If it's about colleges and universities, you'll find it here. http://www.chronicle.merit.edu/ (***)
The State of Georgia is now online. http://www.state.ga.us/
Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia. http://www.usg.edu/
University System of Georgia. http://WWW.PeachNet.EDU/ (***)
Pick a College Course Catalog, any catalog: http://www.collegesource.org/frameindex.cfm
Want something a little closer to home? KSU's Help System is part of our Web site and a good place to start. http://www.kennesaw.edu/help/
The Office of Institutional Research and Academic Support Services : http://WWW.Kennesaw.EDU/inst_res/
KSU
Fact Book: http://WWW.Kennesaw.EDU/inst_res/factbook/noframes/cover.shtml
Scams & Lies, Hoaxes & Myths. Consumer. |
Want info on a business or the latest on a current scam? The Better Business Bureau, http://www.bbb.org/ My personal top four (***) for checking on hoaxes and the like are: Others, in no particular order: http://clarkhoward.com/ My favorite consumer site. The National Consumers League is a private, nonprofit advocacy group representing consumers on marketplace and workplace issues. The nation's oldest consumer organization. http://www.natlconsumersleague.org/welcome.html |
The Better Business Bureau Central Web Server for U.S. and Canada A free award winning e-zine: Internet ScamBusters The National Fraud Information Center National Charities Information Bureau Home Page CBBB Philanthropic Advisory Service Reports: Index mlm scams (Multi-Level Marketing) CNET.com - I swear it's all true! CNET's favorite Net hoaxes (***) |
Desktop Reference |
The Wordsmyth Educational Dictionary-Thesaurus (WEDT) is the premier online American English dictionary with an integrated thesaurus. WEDT contains 50,000 headwords, and very precisely defined and hyperlinked synonyms. And the search engine allows for very flexible searching. http://www.wordsmyth.net/home.html
One Look Dictionary. Dictionary word count = 3922099 words in 740 online dictionaries now indexed. http://www.onelook.com/
The English Server is a cooperative which has been publishing humanities texts online since 1990. Today it offers over eighteen thousand works, covering a wide range of interests. http://english-server.hss.cmu.edu/
The Biographical Dictionary includes more than 27,000 notable men and women who have shaped our world from ancient times to the present day. The dictionary can be searched by names, birth years, death years, positions held, professions, literary and artistic works, miscellaneous achievements, and other keywords. http://www.s9.com/biography/
The Land of Quotes. The name says it all. http://www.quoteland.com/
Need a calculator? Pick one. This site features over one hundred finance-related calculators. http://www.mortgageloan.com/calculator/
Misc. & Fun |
Encyclopedia FunTrivia, the world's largest source of Bizarre and Utterly Trivial Information about almost everything. http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia.html
Two news sites that are wacky with a big W. Plus, they'll send you the latest columns via email. Definitely worth subscribing to:
Want to see actual documents about JFK, Hoover, or Area 51? Bizarre but supposedly true. The Smoking Gun. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
Need a job? Journalism Jobs: http://www.freep.com/jobspage/
Specific to the field of media, its still extensive - The Media History Project has info & links on radio, TV, advertising, print media and more. It's organized and attractive. (***) Last time I checked it was down. Sigh. I'll leave the link in hopes of good news.
And of course, BookNet - a very favorite web site for selfish reasons - they sell my first novels. How's that for a blatant plug?
If you find another and you think it is a good one, e-mail it to me; I'd appreciate it!
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