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 "Illinois" ...
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Wrangling web data with Google docs: beginner course
A great lesson on how to import web data into Google Docs (now known as Google Drive),fetch external data, create scripts to schedule fetches in batches and process the data.
Tags: Data; Google Doc; scripts; data processing
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Investigative Centers and Public Broadcast: Meant to Be?
Houston describes the mutual benefits of investigative centers and public broadcast stations sharing resources. This is a Powerpoint presentation.
Tags: nonprofits; investigative centers; public broadcast stations
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A Citizen's Guide to Using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act
7 chapters of useful information on the IL FOIA. Including what a FOIA request is, how to request a document, and what to do if your request is denied.
Tags: FOIA; freedom of information act; Illinois; IL
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Visualizing Text
Auvil's powerpoint explores using data for knowledge discovery/interpretation. She also explores applications for Meandre and the different visualizations it makes possible. (Meandre is a semantic-web-driven data-intensive flow execution environment.)
Tags: data; visualization; silos; mashups; dataflow executions;
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Following the Money: From Grade School through College
This tipsheet discusses how to track education funding from grade school through higher education. The data sources used for example are the Illinois State Board of Education and Property Tax Revenue from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Lowenstein advises on where to look for education funding: local property taxes; commercial and industrial property taxes; local and federal governments; test scores by region; other supplemental income for schools
Tags: education; taxes; property taxes; department of revenue; education funding; testing; test scores
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Public Information 101: How to obtain public records to hold government accountable
A short tipsheet on the Freedom of Information Act as it applies to federal agencies. Hall also includes details about the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and 10 survival tips for journalists.
Tags: FOIA; Illinois; watchdog; government; state government; federal government; agencies
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Using the Illinois Freedom of Information Act
A successful FOIA request takes knowledge, planning, persistence and toughness. Loury offers tips about preparing the request, submitting the request, and negotiating with the agency over information. He also includes several examples of FOIA requests that he has submitted.
Tags: Freedom of Information; Sunshine Law; state government; public records; open records
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FOIA Tip Sheet
Scott Reeder, a 2005 IRE Award Winner, provides a list of tips for reporters who are working on projects in which FOI requests are necessary. He gives advice on how to know what you're asking for, how to deal with uncooperative officials and more. Reeder also includes his major investigation of teacher tenure in Illinois, in which he filed 1,500 FOI requests with almost 900 governmental entities and gained 100% compliance.
Tags: freedom of information; Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); public records; requesting documents; investigative methods; gaining access to public information
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Investigating Legal Drugs
A presentation of how to create a story from data obtained from the state prescription-monitoring program. Helpful CAR hints on how to interprete and process the data are also given. The tipsheet is bundled with a story that derived from interpreting the data in Illinois, called "Ritalin Roulette", about the administration of potent drugs to treat atention deficit or hyperactivity disorders, to children.
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At Risk: Chronicles of Teen-Age Pregnancy
This tipsheet shows by example. It is a six-part series on the high incidence of teen-age pregnancy in southeast D.C. where the reporter lived for 17 months. The pat answers offered as to why young girls got pregnant gave way to reveal greater complexities. "This series of articles centers on the lives of teen-age mothers and fathers, the attitudes they reveal and the motivations they hide, the fantasies they hold and the realities they live with."
Tags: teen pregnancy; birth control; statistics; family life; poverty; sexual potency; role models; generational patterns