Research for gun violence prevention
PEAC 77
Simon Elichko (they/them)
Social Sciences & Data Librarian
bit.ly/selichk1
Five research tips:
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Check Gun Violence Archive for links about the incident
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Use news coverage to help you choose keywords
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Build your search carefully
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Expand your research toolkit
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Reach out
Check Gun Violence Archive for links to news coverage about the incident
Gun Violence Archive: gunviolencearchive.org
Example incident profile:
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1857434
- Provides some information about incident and people involved
- Links to news articles and coverage
- This incident has multiple sources listed, which won't necessarily be the case for other incidents.
Navigating this site isn't intuitive at first, but it's straightforward once you know how to use it (see next slide)
How to look up an incident using
Gun Violence Archive:
- From the homepage, go to Search Database (top right)
- Choose Add a Rule
- Under Most Popular Filters, choose Location
- In the first blank drop-down menu, choose Pennsylvania
- For City, type the city (it should auto-complete). Click Search.
Note: Don't use the County box, it doesn't work!
Examples: Incidents by location (city)
Finding incidents by location and date range
Add one rule for location, then a second for date.
- Choose Add a Rule
- Under Most Popular Filters, choose Location
- In the first blank drop-down menu, choose Pennsylvania
- For City, type the city (it should auto-complete).
Note: Don't use the County box
- Choose Add a Rule
- Under Most Popular Filters, choose Date
- To search by month:
• Choose Is In.
• Set your date range
example: From 1/1/2021 To 3/31/2021
To search by year:
• Choose Is Year.
• Pick your year (ex. 2021)
Useful reference: Delaware County Towns & Municipalities [list in Wikipedia]
Use existing news coverage to help you choose keywords
Look at existing news coverage of
gun violence incidents:
- Notice patterns – what kind of information is provided? What's missing?
- Pay attention to word choice – what words might come up in news coverage about other incidents?
Some useful keywords found in news articles:
- single words: shot, shooting, killed, homicide, weapon, gun, gunshots
- phrases: "shots fired" "shots were fired"
Each search consists of three main ingredients:
- Sources - which websites or documents you're searching
- Keywords - words you've chosen to include
- Search syntax - instructions you provide to the search engine about how to handle your keywords
Build your search carefully
Let's practice building searches:
Build your search carefully
How to use search syntax:
To find articles mentioning any of these words:
shot OR shooting OR killed OR homicide OR weapon OR gun
Check for multiple keywords at one time using OR
To find articles mentioning any of these words or phrases:
"shots fired" OR "shots were fired" OR shot OR shooting OR killed OR homicide OR weapon OR gun
Example search in Delaware County Times via Access World News database
Build your search carefully
How to use search syntax:
To find articles mentioning Upper Darby and any of the other keywords:
("Upper Darby" AND Pennsylvania) AND (shot OR shooting OR killed OR homicide OR weapon OR gun)
Combine multiple concepts into keyword groups using parentheses ( )
Search by date:
gunshot Chester PA before:2019-12-31 after:2019-10-01
Group and Exclude Terms:
("shots fired" OR gunshot) AND (Chester OR "Delaware County") -"Port Chester" -"West Chester" -"Chester County"
Build your search carefully
How to use search syntax:
Advanced Google syntax
Expand your research toolkit
Delaware County & Philadelphia News Search
Searches only local news sites
Search social media (public posts only, evaluate very carefully)
"shots fired" chester pa site:facebook.com OR site:twitter.com
If you find a broken link, use the Wayback Machine to look for an archived copy.
Search local government websites
Can help you find press releases and conferences
Try DuckDuckGo (alternative to Google)
Try searching "police blotter" and town name
Reach out
Get help with researching cases:
- Quick questions --> Chat in Tripod
- Help with finding sources and searching, organizing your results -->
- Make an appointment (bit.ly/selichk1)
- Email Simon: selichk1@swarthmore.edu