Records requests are a powerful tool for journalists, researchers and the public to understand and open up government, and that includes those just starting their careers. To help start the year off strong, we’re offering a FOIA 101 geared specifically towards student journalists, whether you’re on the beat at a college paper or muckraking in the halls of your high school.

We’ll cover the basics of requesting — and then actually getting — information, as well as share requests and story ideas you can put to work immediately.

The session will be led by Albert Serna Jr., our Sam Whitmore FOIA Fellow on Sept. 20 at 3:30 Eastern/12:30 Pacific. While the session is geared specifically towards student journalists, we believe in life-long learning and it’s open to everyone to attend.

Attendees that work for a student publication will be eligible for free MuckRock accounts with requests as well as access to DocumentCloud, our sister service that helps organize and analyze all the resulting documents you get back.

For those eager to get going, you can also check out our special guides to FOIA for high schoolers and public records for college journalists.