"This manual provides a guide to basic methods and techniques of investigative journalism, and it consciously fills a gap in the literature of the profession. The majority of investigative manuals devote a lot of space to the subject of where to find information. They assume that once a reporter finds the information he or she seeks, he or she will be able to compose a viable story. We do not share that assumption. We do not think that the basic issue is finding information. Instead, we think the core task is telling a story. That leads to the basic methodological innovation of this manual: We use stories as the cement which holds together every step of the investigative process, from conception to research, writing, quality control and publication. We also call this approach hypothesis-based inquiry, because we begin by formulating the story we hope to write as a hypothesis that will be verified or disproved." (Introduction, page 2)