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Journalism - FIGs: Finding & Evaluating Information

Finding People

Find Columbia, MO Officials

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

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.)

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

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

Free People Finders

411.com - Free people search

That's Them  - Free people search site.

Spokeo - People search tool.

Switchboard. Awarded PC Magazine's Best of the Internet; allows you to search for businesses, people, phone numbers, email addresses, and lots more.

Anywho.com Find a business or person via phone number.

Black Book Online Aggregates several free public records search products

whitepages.com Search for telephone numbers

Pipl.com searches web and social networking sites

Radarus - Comprehensive free people search 

Numberway.com  a guide to international telephone directories

Records Project  guide to finding public records

Lycos People Search. Search not only the white and yellow pages, but for professional profiles and alumni emails as well.

DexOnline: Search for residential, business, and government phone listings.

Spydialer.com - Reverse phone number search

Melissadata - Find the location of a phone number