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Finding research news
Most people learn about emerging research through the news, whether they read their news online or in print, listen to it in a podcast or on the radio, or watch it on television or the web. Typically, only studies that journalists think will be popular with the American public make the news, such as studies about health issues and medical discoveries, education, business, and current social issues. But with the deluge of news out there, how can you sort through it to find media coverage of research studies?
Following leads
One way to find news about research is to examine the news feeds and alerts that keep journalists "in the know" about emerging research. Once you're familiar with the studies they're likely to hear about, you can plug key words from those studies into a news search engine to see if it has been picked up by the media. In addition to the sources below, you may want to check the press release sections of web sites for journals, professional organizations, and non-profit groups related to the topic you're studying.
News search engines
News search engines return results from thousands of news streams, typically limited to the past 30 days. Google and Yahoo! offer Advanced Search which allows you to narrow a search by news source, location, and the field(s) in which search words appear. Google also has a news archive search, but results include many articles that require a subscription or payment to view.
If you don't have a particular research study in mind when using a news search engine, the word study combined with one or two key words is usually effective (e.g. intelligence study). You may also try substituting related words in place of study (e.g. research, report, clinical trial, experiment, findings).
Using aggregators and alerts to stay current
Since checking several sites day after day is time-consuming, consider using news aggregators and news alerts to streamline your research. Of the sites above,updates for several are syndicated (i.e. have feeds) and can be organized with an aggregator (a.k.a. feed reader); others offer email alerts.
To learn how to customize news streams, see Customizing news streams.
Lost in translation
Journalists who write articles or produce podcasts about research must synthesize research findings so the general public can understand them, and sometimes important nuances get lost in the translation. This is particularly challenging for science, health and medical journalists. At the same time, journalists are under pressure to make their story marketable in a news landscape where dedicated health/science sections are being eliminated from many newspapers.
Monitoring reporting about research
Here are two organizations that scrutinize the quality of the media's translation of health information and the media's use of statistics in general (STATS even gives nearly annual Dubious Data awards):
Impact of media coverage on research
How important are the choices journalists make about which research to cover? Studies have indicated that when studies appear in the mass media they are likely to get more attention from research peers in that discipline, thereby generating related studies. So not only does research impact the media, but the media also impacts research.
Following leads
One way to find news about research is to examine the news feeds and alerts that keep journalists "in the know" about emerging research. Once you're familiar with the studies they're likely to hear about, you can plug key words from those studies into a news search engine to see if it has been picked up by the media. In addition to the sources below, you may want to check the press release sections of web sites for journals, professional organizations, and non-profit groups related to the topic you're studying.
Emerging research news - Multiple topics
Alpha Galileo (European research news)
BBC News
Eureka! Alerts
Newswise
New York Times
Emerging research news - Science, Health & Tech
Health Headlines (Association of Health Care Journalists)
Great Beyond (international news blog from Nature)
Knight Science Journalism Tracker
Nature News
Psycport (American Psychological Association)
ScienceNOW
Scientific American
SciTech Daily Review
Sciencebase (blog by a science writer in the UK)
Emerging research news - Education
National Center for Education Statistics
News search engines
News search engines return results from thousands of news streams, typically limited to the past 30 days. Google and Yahoo! offer Advanced Search which allows you to narrow a search by news source, location, and the field(s) in which search words appear. Google also has a news archive search, but results include many articles that require a subscription or payment to view.
Altavista News
Ask News
Digg
Google News and Google News - Advanced Search
Yahoo! News and Yahoo! News - Advanced Search
If you don't have a particular research study in mind when using a news search engine, the word study combined with one or two key words is usually effective (e.g. intelligence study). You may also try substituting related words in place of study (e.g. research, report, clinical trial, experiment, findings).
Using aggregators and alerts to stay current
Since checking several sites day after day is time-consuming, consider using news aggregators and news alerts to streamline your research. Of the sites above,updates for several are syndicated (i.e. have feeds) and can be organized with an aggregator (a.k.a. feed reader); others offer email alerts.
To learn how to customize news streams, see Customizing news streams.
Lost in translation
Journalists who write articles or produce podcasts about research must synthesize research findings so the general public can understand them, and sometimes important nuances get lost in the translation. This is particularly challenging for science, health and medical journalists. At the same time, journalists are under pressure to make their story marketable in a news landscape where dedicated health/science sections are being eliminated from many newspapers.
The Future of Science Journalism (ScienceWriters, Nov. 2007)
Medicine in the Mass Media (USA Today, Sept. 2002)
Monitoring reporting about research
Here are two organizations that scrutinize the quality of the media's translation of health information and the media's use of statistics in general (STATS even gives nearly annual Dubious Data awards):
Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making
STATS at George Mason University
Impact of media coverage on research
How important are the choices journalists make about which research to cover? Studies have indicated that when studies appear in the mass media they are likely to get more attention from research peers in that discipline, thereby generating related studies. So not only does research impact the media, but the media also impacts research.
Press Releases: Translating Research Into News (JAMA, June 2002)
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| resourceress | Example of a research trail | 0 | Dec 14 2007, 5:54 PM EST by resourceress | ||
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Thread started: Dec 14 2007, 5:54 PM EST
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If you go to http://www.storyofstuff.com you'll find that the presentation's creator, Annie Leonard, includes a resource list. However, it leads mostly to secondary sources (books, etc.) that you would then have to consult to track down the source data. Ms. Shore suggested that someone in the Freakonomics class might take on the challenge of following this research trail.
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