If you have enough of an internet presence to be reading this blog, you have heard of the Netflix documentary series “Making a Murderer.” You might have some opinions on it. You might not. Either way, you can find the actual newspaper articles that discuss the case from the comfort of your own laptop with your handy dandy library card and a little digital resource we like to call Newsbank.
To find articles on pretty much any newsworthy event, first, pick “USA” from the “Shortcuts” menu at the left side of the page.
Then pick a state. Let’s try Wisconsin, for no particular reason (besides that “Making a Murderer” is set there).
Now you’re ready to actually use the search functions. If you’re looking for a person, like Steve Avery, you’ll want to include his whole name in quotes, like this: “Steve Avery”. Otherwise you’ll end up with results on Steve Avery, and also everyone named Steve, and everyone named Avery. And that’s a lot of people.
If you know the date range you’re looking for, or any of the other options in the drop-down menu, go ahead and put them in. Steve Avery, for example, was originally released from jail on September 11, 2003; you can search for only articles published after that date to focus on the case in the documentary.
Look at all your search results! They’re so pretty! For this particular example search, you’re also going to get results for Steve Avery, the baseball player – this is a great time to use the “Sort” options in the upper right corner, and get the results arranged by date. This will bring you the most recent news and discussion of the case.