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daily nebraskan
thurcday, april 20, 1978
NUPIRG resource file available
to students for research projects
By Deb Shanahan
The Nebraska University Public interest Research
Group's Consumer Clearinghouse may be able to help
students who have been caught up in the term paper race
against time.
Don Macke, NUPIRG director, explained that the re
sources available are those used by his office in his work.
"In the process of our research, we systematically
collect a lot of information," he said, adding that some of
the information gathered, such as research reports and
government documents, is not readily available anywhere
else.
Macke said any research done goes on file under one
topic, and since NUPIRG regularly subscribes to publish
ing groups that put together bibliographies, they usually
can refer people to the topic if it is not already on file.
t4Some of our files are excellent. This is good stuff you
wouldn't necessarily find at Love or Bennett Martin
libaries," he said. Macke cited energy as a broad topic
with well-developed files.
The NUPIRG papers are available to anyone, Macke
said, but students are the primary users.
"I haven't really kept track, but we've probably had
some 30 or so people in since we initiated the ad
campaign (advertising research files) about three weeks
ago," he said.
Students can get NUPIRG materials by stopping at the
NUPIRG office, Room 117, Nebraska Union, and looking
through a book listing the resources available. By leaving
a name, phone number, and how long they expect to keep
the files, students can check out research information,
according to Macke.
"That way, if we need it we can call. We have no re
course if it gets ripped off, but as long as the system is not
abused we will continue to offer the service," he said.
Although NUPIRG does not write papers for people,
Macke said, they help with focusing on scope, providing
contacts, and helping them work through it,"
Macke said all those who have used the service have
been enthusiastic.
"We're pleased with it, especially since it is a pilot
thing-it was just an experiment," he said, adding that if it
works, NUPIRG might consider keeping its office open at
night, next year to make it more accessible to students.
Macke said offering the service is not an additional
expense to NUPIRG, but that it takes time.
"Our feeling was that we had people adept at analyzing
and compiling research material, so we should make an
effort to make this available to the students. It's another
service We can offer-it gives students another resource
on campus," Macke said.
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Mexico trips
teaching tool
for students
The final product of a
UNL journalism professor's
13-year-old idea is rolling
out of the typewriters of 20
journalism students.
Students from fall and
spring depth reporting class
es spent spring break or the
week before on an investi
gative reporting trip to
Mexico and surrounding
areas. They currently are
compiling an in-depth publi
cation on Mexico-U.S. rela
tions. The product was plan
ned by journalism profes
sor Jim Patten, who said
he first got the idea to
take a trip to Canada in
1965. However, he could
not get the grant money
until this year, he said.
The destination became
Mexico.
Besides learning .inter
viewing skills in a foreign
language while trespassing
in orange groves to get to
the source, students had to
handle border patrolmen
forbidding them to photo
graph public places, officials
out of their offices for a
Mexican national holiday
and night meetings with
drug informants, Patten
said.
Groups of students went
to Arizona, El Paso-Juarez,
San Francisco, Guadalajara
and Mexico City to seek
information on their assign
ed topic. One group search
ed the border fence for
holes that illegal aliens alleg
edly slip through.
"I would hope to get an
outstanding publication
from this because a lot of
people are watching,"
Patten said. "But that is
secondary to the value of
the project as a teaching
tool."
Josie Weber, assistant
professor of journalism who
went with the Mexico City
group, said it is hard to
measure what students
learned -not only about
journalism and the
country -but also about
survival in general.
"Students have told me
they learned more on this
trip than in four years of
college," Weber said.
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Good times are great times for the easy taste of