Investigative Method, step by step
From tip to publication.
- State the hypothesisWrite the story you think is true as a sentence you must prove.
- Find the paperRecords, filings, contracts and databases before interviews.
- Build the chronologyOne dated line per event, each with its source. This is the spine.
- Test it to destructionActively hunt the evidence that would kill the hypothesis.
- Put it to themFull, specific allegations in writing, with real time to reply.
- Legal and editEvery claim traced to evidence you actually hold.
Educational reference. Right of reply is both an ethical duty and, in many jurisdictions, central to a defence. Take advice locally.
Questions about the Investigative Method poster
- What’s on the Investigative Method poster?
- 6 numbered steps. From tip to publication. State the hypothesis — Write the story you think is true as a sentence you must prove.; Find the paper — Records, filings, contracts and databases before interviews.; Build the chronology — One dated line per event, each with its source. This is the sp…; Test it to destruction — Actively hunt the evidence that would kill the hypothesis.; Put it to them — Full, specific allegations in writing, with real time to reply.; Legal and edit — Every claim traced to evidence you actually hold.. Educational reference. Right of reply is both an ethical duty and, in many jurisdictions, central to a defence. Take advice locally.
- Who is the Investigative Method poster for?
- Investigative Method belongs to the Communications & Media section rather than to a school year, because humanities is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning journalism can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Investigative Method poster?
- When starting a long story that will consume months and may not stand up. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Investigative Method belongs on the wall where that humanities work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Investigative Method?
- Beat Reporting, Corrections and Data Journalism sit alongside Investigative Method in the Communications & Media section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Beat ReportingCorrectionsData Journalism
- Is the Investigative Method poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Investigative Method downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Communications & Media section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Investigative Method poster print at?
- Investigative Method is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Investigative Method loses nothing.Printing guide
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