introduction
"The Internet will not make stupid reporters smart. But it will make smart reporters smarter," Julian Sher, Media Magazine, Winter 1995
It's hard to believe that prior to 1993, if I wanted to research an obscure topic, I had to jump in my car and drive to the nearest library eight miles away--if it was opened. Today, I can read hundreds of magazines and newspapers, scan out-of-print books, search through Encyclopedia Britannica, and interview an expert in England all without leaving my house--at 3 a.m.!
The Internet and the World Wide Web provide literally millions of research sources. (Presently, one million new web pages are added to the Internet each day.) What a great time to be a writer!
First, some definitions:
The Internet is an electronic "superhighway" of computer networks connected around the world through cables and satellites. This network allows a computer to share information with a connected computer anywhere in the world.
The World Wide Web (WWW or W3) is one element of the Internet which allows complex "addresses" to be accessed simply by clicking a "hyperlink" (the underlined text on a web page). Many e-mail programs and file transfer programs, don't use the WWW.
Modems connect computers to phone lines or cable connections which in turn connect to Internet Service Providers which connect to the Internet (America On Line is an example of an ISP).
Web Browsers take the raw data ("bits" and "bytes") being transferred between computers and translate them into text and graphics which we see as "web pages." (Netscape and Internet Explorer are browsers.)
Click on VIEW at the top of the screen, then select SOURCE to see the raw HTML (hyper text markup language) which creates what you now see.
Search Engines and Directories act as the electronic research assistants who provide you with a list of sites that match (somewhat!) your request for information on a particular topic. (We'll discuss these at length later.)
researching on the internet
WARNING: Keep in mind that anyone with a modem and an ISP can call him/herself an "expert" online. Verify any information with at least two other reliable sources.
As the first rule of journalism states, "If your mother says she loves you, check it out!"
limiting your search
Have you ever typed in a search request and received notice that 125,000,000 results were found?
You can limit your search by putting the exact phrase in quotations. Simply typing in Jim Watkins you will receive thousands of results with all the listings of Jim and all the listings of Watkins. "Jim Watkins" will give you a better chance at the exact phrase Jim Watkins.
"Boolean" searches (operators) are another effective way to limit results. If you type in angel, you may get the Los Angeles Angels baseball team, Hell's Angels motorcycle gang, theater supporters who are known as angels as well as drug education sites on angel dust, and many more sites. If you want the heavenly variety, a Boolean search would look like angel AND heavenly. If you wanted to exclude Hell's Angels from your search, you would type angel AND NOT Hell's. You can also use OR and NEAR. (Some engines allow + for and, - for not, | for or, and ~ for near.)
"Wild Cards" allow you to search a root word and all its derivatives. For instance angel* will find angels, angelic, Angela--anything beginning with the first five letters. (Lycos uses $ for its wild card.)
Google.com and altavista.com offer Boolean searches with easy to use fields.
organizing your search
For easy access to your favorite research sites you can save them as Favorites in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and as Bookmarks in Netscape.
Our family has set up it's own portal which appears as the start page whenever the browser is opened. (Since it's on our web site, I can access it anywhere in the world.) I'll show how to set up your own portal and build your own web site in a later session.
a final thought . . .
The Internet is a wonderful tool to find leads to secondary sources and to locate primary sources, but it should never be exclusively depended upon for reliable, verifiable information. Printed material from several reputable publishers and face-to-face interviews are still the best research.
Click here to go to Wired Writer: How to communicate with today's online users
Copyright 1999, 2004 James N. Watkins
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