Research Guides: Journalism & Public Relations: JOUR 311

AP Stylebook

Finding Academic Experts

Most colleges and universities have online databases of faculty experts. This Google search can help:

expert YOUR TOPIC site:.edu

Finding advocates

Nonprofit organizations that advocate for an issue can be good sources of background and people to interview. But you still need to evaluate their credibility. Check the About section for their mission or their board of directors to see if they have prominent people serving.

Some search strategies:

Google: Type in: expert YOUR TOPIC site:.org OR type in YOUR TOPIC advocacy group site:.org
Global Newsstream: Check news articles on the topic and look for people interviewed.
CQ Researcher: Long reports will include a Contacts section with organization names and websites and their perspective

Find Sources on Social Media

Tips from:

Background for Stories: Check "the Clips"

Current news stories

Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window U.S. and international news sources. More than 2,500 news sources including newspapers, newswires, news journals, television and radio transcripts, blogs, podcasts, and digital-only websites in full-text format from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Updated daily.
NewsBank This link opens in a new window Includes Long Beach Press-Telegram from 1990, the Sacramento Bee from 1984 and the Orange County Register
Alt-PressWatch, 1965-present This link opens in a new window Articles from independent or alternative newspapers, magazines, journals and newsletters that are not mainstream media viewpoints or perspectives. Some coverage back to 1965.
Ethnic NewsWatch, 1959-present This link opens in a new window Newspaper and periodical articles written by and about various ethnic groups in the United States including Latinos/Hispanic, African/Caribbean, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Native American, Eastern European, and Asian American.Coverage: 1959 to date. Updated monthly.

Higher Education Stories

For higher education stories (think stories about issues on campus), you will want to check out these sources:

Nonprofit News Sources

Campus Publications

Historical News Databases

19th Century US Newspapers Digital Archive This link opens in a new window Features publications of all kinds, from political party newspapers to major dailies papers published by African Americans, Native Americans, women's rights groups, labor groups, and the Confederacy.
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49er/DIG/DÍG en Español Archive

California Newspaper Archive This link opens in a new window Full text facsimile content of California newspapers from 1846 to date. Includes Long Beach newspapers, 1938-1977, Orange County Register 1913-2016 and many other regional California newspapers.
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Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 This link opens in a new window Hundreds of Spanish-language newspaper articles from 1808 to 1980, with some articles also appearing in English.
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Historical Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window Full text, facsimile content of the Los Angeles Times for 1881-1996. Includes complete articles, photographs, advertisements, classified ads, legal notices, comics, editorials, commentary, letters to the editor, sports, radio and television schedules. For more current content, see: Los Angeles Times (1985-current)
Historical New York Times This link opens in a new window Full text facsimile content of the New York Times from 1851 up until the previous three years. Includes all articles, reviews, commentary, literary criticism, comics, obituaries, classifieds, and display ads. More photographs may be viewable using the “full page PDF” viewing option.
Times (of London) Digital Archive This link opens in a new window Full text online coverage of the Times (of London, England) from 1785 up until five years ago ( a moving wall). Includes news articles, reviews, commentary, literary criticism, editorials, obituaries, ads. Many images, maps, graphics and photographs are viewable starting by the 1880s. No coverage of the Sunday Times (of London) is included.

State & National Research Sources

CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window Congressional Researcher reports on social issues
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California Legislative Analyst's Office Nonpartisan analyses of state budget and reports on major issues.
Public Policy Institute of California
California Research Bureau
U.S. Research "Think Tanks"

Statistics and Polling Data

U.S. Census QuickFacts is where you find basic demographic information on a community.
U.S. Census Data Portal Official data portal of the U.S. Census Bureau
USA.gov Provides links to myriad U.S. federal data sources.
FBI Uniform Crime Reports The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program generates reliable statistics for use in law enforcement.
Cal State Statistics Broad range of stats on Cal State students by campus and other variables.
CSULB Statistics
California Quick Facts State level data from the U.S. Census Bureau
California Election Statistics Data from the Office of the California Secretary of State

An effective approach to finding government statistics on a topic is to use the following search in Google:

Statistics YOUR TOPIC site:.gov

For example: statistics crime site:.gov

Other Data Sources:

iPOLL This link opens in a new window U.S. sampling of registered voters on public opinions. Find aggregated question-level data and other survey data only at the national level.
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Statista This link opens in a new window Reports that provide an aggregate of a variety of data, mainly statistics. Search for data by industry, political issue, consumerism, companies or countries. The data reports provide sourcing information.
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Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window A summary of statistics on the United States social, political, and economy. Majority of the data is over time. The data tables provide source information for further research.
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Finding Diverse Sources and Tips for Reporting

The Society of Professional Journalists has put together a Toolbox on Diversity Issues to help journalists improve their reporting. Here are a few highlights from the Toolbox as well as from the Poynter Institute, the American Press Institute, and the Women's Media Center.

How to Find Diverse So urces

Diverse Sources and Perspectives in science, health and the environment

How to Find Untold Stories in Your Community

Interviewing and Reporting on Immigrants when You Don't Speak Their Language

Best Reporting Practices for Covering Neo Nazis and White Supremacists

Tipsheets on LGBT Coverage

Witness.org: A video-based site dealing with human rights issues

Long Beach Background Resources

List of Long Beach Neighborhood Groups
LBPost
Long Beach Press-Telegram Also in Newsbank database

Math for Journalists

Former Los Angeles Times journalist Robert Niles offers simple explanations of the key types of math calculations and statistical descriptions that journalists are asked to make.

Statistics Every Writer Should Know

Journalism & Public Relations: JOUR 311