Posts tagged ‘Hickman’
Professor Hickman’s MCOM 4163 – Public Information Methods
Hi,
My name is Paul Stenis, and we met at the library to talk about company information for your course on Public Information Methods. Here’s a summary of the resources we went over.
Standard & Poor’s (SP) is great for industry analysis, company profiles, and financial data. Click on PDF under Stock Reports for a concise summarized profile of the company. Click on News/Press Releases to see what the company has been up to recently.
Mergent is a powerful database with company profiles, including data on products and services, and profiles of individual executives, including salary information and brief professional bios.
Covers business, including marketing, management, ISOM, accounting, finance and economics. Indexing and abstracts for scholarly business journals back to 1886 are included. Searchable cited references provided for more than 1,200 journals. Contains detailed author profiles for the 20,000 most-cited authors in the database.
Additional full text, non-journal content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, book digests, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, and SWOT analyses.
Biography Reference Bank contains more than 95,000 short biographies and obituaries and 26,000 photographs from more than 100 volumes of biographical reference books, including Current Biography, the World Author Series, Nobel Prize Winners, World Artists, World Film Directors, American Reformers, and others. Includes all entries from Biography Index Plus, biographical material appearing in periodicals, current books of individual and collective biography, and incidental biographical material in otherwise non-biographical books. These entries are enhanced with abstracts and the full text of articles where available.
International Directory of Company Histories
This multivolume set (Call No. HD2721 .D36x) contains narrative histories of individual companies with a bibliography at the end of each entry. You’ll find these volumes on the 1st floor of the library in the reference collection, but they’re not available for checkout. Have your copy card handy.
Please email me if you have any questions (pstenis@uco.edu). You can also instant message a reference librarian anytime the library is open on our Ask Us! page. You can also call us at 974-2878.
Good luck with your research.
Paul
Professor Hickman’s MCOM 4163 – Public Information Methods
Hi,
My name is Paul Stenis, and we met at the library to talk about company information for your course on Public Information Methods. Here’s a summary of the resources we went over.
Standard & Poor’s (SP) is great for industry analysis, company profiles, and financial data. Click on PDF under Stock Reports for a concise summarized profile of the company. Click on News/Press Releases to see what the company has been up to recently.
Mergent is a powerful database with company profiles, including data on products and services, and profiles of individual executives, including salary information and brief professional bios.
A good place for quick biographical facts on individual company executives. This resource is most effective with more popular figures like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs but always worth a try.
International Directory of Company Histories
This multivolume set (Call No. HD2721 .D36x) contains narrative histories of individual companies with a bibliography at the end of each entry. You’ll find these volumes on the 1st floor of the library in the reference collection, but they’re not available for checkout. Have your copy card handy.
Please email me if you have any questions (pstenis@uco.edu). You can also instant message a reference librarian anytime the library is open on our Ask Us! page. You can also call us at 974-2878.
Good luck with your research.
Paul
Professor Hickman’s MCOM 4563 – Media Law
Hi,
My name is Paul Stenis, and we met at the library to talk about law resources for your course on Media Law. Here’s a quick summary of the databases and websites we went over.
Lexis Nexis
One place to retrieve Supreme Court Cases is Lexis Nexis Law.
- Once inside, make sure to click on the “Legal” button in the top left hand corner.
- Then click on “Federal and State Cases” on the left hand side of the site.
- Finally, hit the dropdown box underneath sources and select U.S. Supreme Court Cases, Lawyers’ Edition.
I suggest you begin with Natural Language searches, limiting with the Sources and Specify Date dropdown menus.
Another powerful tool in Lexis Nexis is the News search, also known as Lexis Nexis News. Click News in the upper left corner to access it.
- Begin with a Terms and Connectors search and add limiters before conducting the first search.
- Use the Sources check box list and dropdown menu to limit to a specific newspaper (or newspapers).
- Keep in mind the Specify Date limiter at the very bottom. The default search includes only the previous three months, so adjust the date as necessary.
Other Resources
Cornell University Law School – Legal Information Institute
www.law.cornell.edu – Supreme court opinions, U.S. Code, Legal Encyclopedias and dictionaries, the text of the U.S. constitution and many other legal resources can be found here.
Findlaw
www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html – Another place to look up Supreme court opinions. Here you’ll need to know the volume and page number of where the case begins in The Supreme Court Reporter. Citations look like this: 410 U.S. 113. (410 refers to the volume number. U.S. is an abbreviation for The Supreme Court Reporter. 113 is the page number within volume 410 where the case begins.)
The Oklahoma Legislature Homepage
www2.lsb.state.ok.us – Here you can search the constitution and statutes of the State of Oklahoma.
Okay, that just about covers it. Please email me if you have any questions (pstenis@uco.edu). You can also instant message a reference librarian anytime the library is open on our Ask Us! page.
Good luck with your research.
Paul
Dr. Hickman’s Internet News Reporting class — MCOM 1143
Evaluating websites
You must evaluate websites when starting research at Google, Yahoo, etc. The best place to start with evaluation is the website domain, the 3 or 4 letter code that ends the main part of a website.
Common Domains
.com — for-profit entity
.org — non-profit entity with a specific purpose
.edu — an educational institution, or an entity an educational institution supports
.gov — an entity of the United States government
.ok.us — an entity of a state government, in this case Oklahoma
.mil – a United States military website, or an entity the U. S. Military supports.
.co.uk — an entity originating in another country, in this case the United Kingdom
.net — a private website hosted on a private server
More Points to Ponder
Documentation:
Is there adequate documentation for factual statements?
Is the documentation reliable, verifiable from a second source?
Is there enough information to cite this information in a paper (author, title, source, date)?
Content:
Is the information current? When was the last time the page was updated?
Does the page have good flow, indicating that some thought went into its design?
Are there few or no spelling or grammatical errors that indicate hurried thought?
Is it flashy with little content?
Authority:
Who produced this site – is it a credible source? Anyone can put up a website – be skeptical of the source.
Is this document self-published or does it carry the weight of a publisher or organization? What is the domain of the
Persuasiveness:
Is the document biased or slanted?
Are there few or no logical errors such as appeal to authority, circular reasoning, etc?
If you found this information in a printed source, would you trust it?
Website Evaluation Exercise
Government Websites
Collecting statistics is expensive, and governments provide the most comprehansive set of statistics. The Government Information department in the library provides excellent access to the most commonly used statistical resources.
Google Government. This part of Google concentrates on searching government websites, and it it is good place to start when searching for government information.
Is There Scholarly Information on the Internet?
Indeed!
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a beta Google project that searches for more scholarly, authoritative information on the internet.
Tracing an Original Scientific Study
Sometimes, you might see an article on CNN.com, or a blurb in the New York Times about a topic you’re very interested in terms of your studies. If so, you can always trace back to the original scientific study for your own research.
Take for example this article – Infants Have Social Sitelines
While the article itself on Sciencenews.org might not be a source you can use for your paper. The article does prevent itself many clues, allowing you to trace back to the original study.
Look for the author’s name and the journal title, or perhaps an entity sponsoring a study, such as a government agency.
If you know the journal name, visit our library website and click on the “Journal Titles” tab on the far right-hand side of the website. Once clicked, you can enter the journal’s name to find our holdings (print and/or electronic), etc.
Enjoy!
Contact Ona Lou Britton if you have any questions.
MCOM3193 Internet News Sources – Hickman
Bookmarking – Delicious
RSS – Google Reader
Government Resources
The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook
Chapter 1
Library of Congress (LOC), http://www.loc.gov/index.htmlFor primary resources select Digital Selections for historical reference. Includes photographs, videos, audio and documents.
FedWorld, http://www.fedworld.gov/ Full text searchable Supreme Court database from 1937 to 1935. Also a gateway to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTIS serves as the largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available today. Fee based database and/or pay for publications.
Chapter 2
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), www.gao.gov
The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “congressional watchdog,” GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. Many news reports are developed from GAO reports.
Chapter 3
Bureau of Economic Analysis, BEA Regional Facts (BearFacts), http://bea.gov/bea/regional/bearfacts/
BEA is an agency of the Department of Commerce. Along with the Census Bureau and STAT-USA, BEA is part of the Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration. BEA’s economic statistics, which provide a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of the U.S. economy, are key ingredients in critical decisions affecting monetary policy, tax and budget projections, and business investment plans. The cornerstone of BEA’s statistics is the national income and product accounts (NIPAs), which feature the estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) and related measures.
The regional economic accounts tell us about the geographic distribution of U.S. economic activity and growth. The estimates of gross domestic product by state and state and local area personal income, and the accompanying detail, provide a consistent framework for analyzing and comparing individual state and local area economies.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Data, http://www.bls.gov/data/
The BLS is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor.
U.S. Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/
Chapter 4
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), www.cdc.gov
Provides information on health and safety related issues. Contains data and statistics at the national and state level.
CIA World Fact Book, www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
Basic country information and statistics
Governments on the World Wide Web, http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/
This database contains links to governmental institutions, which provide information on the World Wide Web. In particular, this database includes:
• institutions of the legislative branch (parliaments)
• institutions of the executive branch (ministries, agencies, administrations, offices, institutes, councils, committees and others)
• institutions of the judicative branch (law courts)
• governmental representations in foreign countries (embassies, consulates and others)
• some other government-related institutions
• political parties and party alliances (on national, regional and municipal level)
• parliamentary groups, youth organizations etc. of political parties (only on national level)
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), www.nara.gov
NARA safeguards and preserves the records of our Government, ensuring that the people can discover, use, and learn from this documentary heritage. Contains primary sources for historical reference. Good source for historical foreign policy.
World Bank, www.worldbank.org
Provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.
Great source for international business information.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO), www.cbo.gov
The CBO roll is to provide the Congress with objective, nonpartisan, and timely analyses to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on the wide array of programs covered by the federal budget and to provide information and estimates required for the Congressional budget process.
Many news stories evolve from reports from the CBO. They do a lot of investigative reports.
Library of Congress (LOC), Congressional Links, http://thomas.loc.gov
Here you can research the goings of Congress since 1992. Provides full text of legislation, proceedings on the Congressional floor, committee reports (differ from hearings), treaties and votes. If you are looking for hearings, you need either the House website (http://www.house.gov/) or the Senate (http://www.senate.gov/) and then search by committee.
White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/
OMB’s predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies.
Similar to GAO/CBO for news reporting.
Chapter 7
Federal Register, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
This is used for presidential executive orders and adjustments to the federal agency rules. It is neat in the sense that it is a democracy in action, because most rule changes go up to a vote for the public and the register is call for those votes. This website is difficult to navigate.
Office of Government Ethics (OGE), www.usoge.gov
OGE exercises leadership in the executive branch to prevent conflicts of interest on the part of Government employees, and to resolve those conflicts of interest that do occur. In partnership with executive branch agencies and dLOouepartments, OGE fosters high ethical standards for employees and strengthens the public’s confidence that the Government’s business is conducted with impartiality and integrity.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), www.sec.gov
The SEC protects investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.
Chapter 10
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), www.usdoj.gov/
DOJ’s mission is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
