Journalism - Information Gathering Resources

Information about most people can be found on the Internet.  Professional occupations often require licenses or certification to do business.  Since it is important to know whether a CPA, physician, dentist, lawyer, etc. is licensed, the information is usually available online.  However, it may not always be freely available, you may encounter barriers such as paywalls, members only access, or registration.

Find Columbia, MO Officials

• Columbia Informational Website

Find People Mentioned in Columbia Newspapers (Search names with quotation marks - "first name last name")

• Find people mentioned in the:
  • Columbia Missourian print or columbiamissourian.com digital archives 
  • Columbia Daily Tribune  archives.

Find People in Boone County Missouri (Search within County Divisions - Search the Sheriff's Office for inmates in the county jail, etc.)

• Boone County Website - Find Boone County officials, property owners, county jail inmates, registered sex offenders, marriage licenses, felony & misdemeanor warrants, etc. (You may need to register for some information.)

Find People in Missouri (Many professions require state licenses and registration.)

• Missouri Division of Professional Registration - Find CPAs, Dentists, and anyone holding a professional license in Missouri.
• Missouri Division of Professional Registration - The Healing Arts - Find people in all medical professions in Missouri.

Find People Involved in Missouri Court Cases (Search by suspected defendant or plantiff's name.)

• Casenet - Find records (docket entries, parties, judgments, and charges in public court) of people involved in Missouri court cases.

Create a Background Profile Using Google and Boolean Search Operators

Who:

• Find facts and opinions using "is"
  • "David Kurpius is" AROUND 15 missouri
• Find out what people not from Mizzou, are saying
  • "Dav* Kurpius"-site:missouri.*
• Search within a specific website, blog, online publication, etc. (searches part of the address, doesn't have to include the domain)
  • inurl:nytimes "University of Missouri"
  • inurl:espn "Mizzou"
  • inurl:columbiamissourian "#MeToo"
• Search within a domain (site)
  • site:nytimes.com "University of Missouri"
  • site:espn.com "Mizzou"
  • site:columbiamissourian.com "#metoo"
• Search local media archives (columbiamissourian.com; columbiatribune.com; themaneater.com; kbia.com; komu.com, columbiaheartbeat; columbiabusinesstimes;  insidecolumbia, etc.)
• Search regional/state/global media archives
  • Factiva (search by name, sort by oldest first to follow chronology; add search terms to narrow)
  • Proquest Newsstand

Where & When

• Use Echosec and Google Images for images over time (filter by date)
• Search social media (filter by date; use advanced search to see who your subject follows, is talking to, etc.)
  • @mujschool site:twitter.com
  • "missouri school of journalism" site:facebook.com
  • "missouri school of journalism" site:linkedin