The examples below are my best recollections of what went into
these two major research efforts for our paper:
Our projects office worked for months on an investigation related
to arson in St. Paul. This story won the Pulitzer. During this time
I:
The final big push to get the series finished brought a request for information comparing the quality of various fire departments' arson investigations. My first step was to run a quick search through the most likely data bases to see if I could find a fast answer to their question. I chose to start with the insurance data bases, PAIS and various government document data bases in Dialog. This search turned up a few possibilities and I started locating and retrieving them.
In order to actually get these documents and articles, I used
several services.
In addition, I spent time on the telephone. Starting with the Encyclopedia of Associations and my own files on fire and arson research organizations, I placed about twenty phone calls, finally locating a woman who had just completed the type of study we wanted. Her findings had not been published yet and she wanted to know, "How did you find me???" I passed her name and phone number on to the projects people.
How useful was all this in the final analysis? I'm not certain. I did receive credit at the end of the series for my research contribution so I assume that the reporters found my work useful. I may never know what part was most useful to them. They probably couldn't tell me now even if I asked. They're on to the next investigation and so am I. But the arson series won a Pulitzer and I was proud to have worked on it with them.
This second example is certainly more typical of the work I do. A reporter asked for information related to the IRS requirement that defense attorneys disclose cash payments they receive in excess of $10,000. (Part of the purpose of this requirement is to help track drug money.) I started with the Nexis group file which covers legal sources like the National Law Journal. Then I searched the Legal Resource Index and Tax Notes Today files on Dialog. I showed the reporter the information I had found -- highlighting the sources that looked best to me. Some of the articles we wanted were available full text on line and I printed these. For the other materials, I had the Hennepin County Law Library photocopy the articles. The reporter said that the material was very useful and gave me a tag line on the story.
Sylvia Frisch
Star Tribune Library
425 Portland Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55488
August 16, 1990