Each student will do one package on a major issue on his or her beat facing the community. You may choose to localize a national story or provide an update on a big local issue
In your beat memo, demonstrate that you have done some preliminary research, including finding relevant data and national news coverage. Feel free to provide hyperlinks to that material.
Find data
Ask yourself these questions before you begin looking for documentary information:
You should use primary sources for the data you present. Primary documents provide data and other information created or collected by the author. For example, a college professor who conducts research is the primary source for the data. You may quote the journal in which the professor publishes that data as a primary source. A newspaper account of that research is secondary data and may not be used except for background and leads to primary source data.
Other primary documents sources include—but are not limited to—encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, atlases, biographical dictionaries, government documents, budgets and research reports.
Think visually about the data you need. What information in your story might be displayed as an information graphic?
