The Craft of Research

•  Lesson handout

Points of emphasis for critical thinking:

1. NYC.gov is going to be a (if not the) primary research source for your Community District.
2. Like almost all government web sites, the bulk of “the good stuff” is buried deep within NYC.gov.  Never think the home page of a government web site is going to be intuitive.  You need to dig.
3. Do you necessarily trust every piece of information released by the government?

Welcome to “The Craft of Research,” the official research blog for the Fall 2010 Craft I class of Steve Strasser and Prue Clarke.  It’s the spot for research lessons, handouts, assignments, news, tips and whatever else comes up during the semester.  In short order, you’ll begin to grasp the vast power of research. 

My name is Jack Styczynski, and this is my third year at the J-school, my 16th as a news researcher and my 25th collecting paychecks from the media.  Although I usually stick to business, in my spare time I enjoy rebuilding New Orleans (photo below), Cajun cookin’ and rooting for the Super Bowl champion Saints.  I’m also an unrepentant college hoop-head and I still haven’t retired from playing ball either.

See you soon!

Working on the home of Polly Waring in Mid-City New Orleans.

I often question whether all this computer use is good for me/us.  Some of my summer reading reflected that…

Nicholas Carr wrote sort of a sequel to his famed 2008 article asking “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”  In the same vein, the New York Times had a story about our brains on computers, and I finally got around to viewing Frontline’s Digital Nation episode from earlier this year.

At least the good folks at the Onion can make us laugh about it.

But seriously, how good can this pace be for journalism in general and research in specific?

For those of you I haven’t scared off to Luddite-ville, here’s some stuff to keep you hooked to the screen: guides for Deep Web Research and Mastering Twitter.

Changing gears, if you want to read some of what I worked on this summer, check out my NYT credits.   The July 26th story involved the use of Twitter, in fact.

Lastly, here’s some important news about the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.