2. Who is Carlos Lukis?
Initial search comes up empty
Texas corporate records provides the key
info
Simple Google/clip search search does the
rest
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics
/business-associate-staten-island-rep-
michael-grimm-convicted-felon-carlos-
luquis-article-1.945072
3. Research Fundamentals
Good research creates the foundation of
a good story
Opens up new human sources
Allow for better, more informed interviews
Helps ID inaccuracies in claims made by
the targets of your work
4. Rules of the Road
Don’t rely on Wikipedia.
Don’t assume “facts” reported in other
publications are accurate
Get to the source documents whenever
possible
Create a structure to track your research
results
Always start with a clip search
5. Types of Research
Backgrounding individuals
Backgrounding organizations
Researching topics/data
6. Individuals
Questions we want to answer.
Where do they work? Work history?
Any political activity?
Any civil or criminal legal history?
Do they own in real property?
If so, any issues there?
Registered to vote?
Where have they lived?
Marital status? Children?
Any business interests?
7. Backgrounding Pols
Many elected officials/candidates must file
personal financial disclosure statements
NJ:
https://www6.state.nj.us/ETH_DISC/
http://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dlgs/resources
/fds.html
DC:
http://clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial.asp
x
8. Individuals
Comprehensive Person report on Nexis
Substitute: https://pipl.com/ or
http://www.intelius.com/people-
search.html?searchform=name&gclid=CILg1bS
0_rwCFfNxOgodNn8AWA
Search social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Join Linkedin
Journalists can get free premium accounts
9. Individuals
Asbury Park Press data hub
http://www.app.com/section/DATA/DataU
niverse
Civil Court Records
http://njcourts.judiciary.state.nj.us/web15z/
ACMSPA/CaptchaController
Federal Court Records (civil and criminal)
http://www.pacer.gov/
13. Organizations
Determine where the entity is headquartered,
maintains offices
Search court records in relevant jurisdictions
Determine what state/federal agency has
oversight of industry
Search for any required filings, inspection results,
fines, etc. (OSHA)
Determine if entity maintains PAC or lobbyist
Don’t forgot to do the clip search!
14. Non-Profit Organizations
Register with Guidestar
Free access to last three 990 tax returns
Search IRS revoked list
http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/
Economic Research Institute
http://www.eri-nonprofit-
salaries.com/?FuseAction=NPO.Search
15. Public Companies
http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
Key filings
8K = notification of major event
http://www.sec.gov/answers/form8k.htm
10K = annual report that discusses finances,
management, etc.
10Q = quarterly reports
Form 4 = executives must disclose stock
sales
16. Topics/data
Search both Bing and Google
Do a clip search!
Find an expert
http://www.prnewswire.com/profnet/
U.S. Census Bureau
They don’t just count people every 10 years
http://www.census.gov/#
Health
Kaiser Family Foundation (http://kff.org/)
CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/)
17. Topics/data
Work
Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bls.gov/
Crime
FBI Uniform Crime Reports
http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/
Bureau of Justice Statistics
http://www.bjs.gov/
