Read Steve Suo's terrific summary of the first two phases of the Meth Project -- last October's "Unnecessary Epidemic" and this summer's "The Mexican Connection."

This hasn't been a project that has followed a traditional path of chasing records and interviews. It really was a detective story built one clue on top of another.

The summary, written for IRE's Phillip Meyer competition, provides a detailed record of the methods Suo employed for his original data analysis, which is the statistical backbone of the project. It also outlines the numerous data and reporting challenges of this project.

We hope that it offers reporters and editors insights and possible tips in pursuing their own stories.

-- Tom Maurer