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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 textt 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 Click here for a few examples of the millions of resources available on the 'net.WARNING: Keep in mind, however, 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 a professor at Ball State's School of Journalism used to say, "If your mother says she loves you, verify it!" about.com's Urban Legends offers a site devoted to current Internet and e-mail hoaxes (and there are hundreds of them!) University sources, ending in .edu, are usually reliable--unless it's a student's home page! And beware, there are counterfeit sites lurking out there! If you're searching for a famous-name company, take a chance and type the actual name in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) box such as ibm.com or microsoft.com. Usually businesses end in .com; school and universities in .edu, government agencies in .gov, non-profit organizations in .org, and if none of the above .net. Search Engines
Ask Jeeves is a very user-friendly search engine that allows you to ask actual questions. Cross Search indexes Christian sites Excite searches key words plus concepts ("fuzzy logic") Google is my current favorite. GospelCom indexes Christian sites Hotbot Lycos searches titles, key words, and links rather than every word Northern Light Multi-Search Engines These engines scan several different search engines at the same time and compile results.
C-4 Parallel Search Technology Dogpile Multi-Search Engine Inference offers results by domain and in alphabetical order--fast! MetaCrawler WebCrawler Directories While search engines rely strictly on computer programming to index the Internet, directories (or "subject trees") rely on human "guides" to select what sites will be included in its categories and sub-categories. As a result, these tend to provide more accurate and relevant search results. Newsgroups and Listservs Think of newsgroups as the online equivalent to call-in radio shows. (The emphasis is on "group" and not "news"!) Deja News provides ranting and raving on any subject. "Listservs," however, are more like TV panel discussions where panelists are invited to participate. Liszt provides 90,000 lists of discussion groups. You must subscribe to become a part of the discussion group which is conducted via e-mail. Research and resource sites
Biographical Dictionary Christian Writers Resources Church directory CIA World Fact Book Copyright information Family Research Council GovernmentBot Infomine: university sources The Internet for Christians Internet Public Library Medical Information: Dr. Koop National and International Newspapers National Press Club News Index: Searchable current events Police records by States The Polling Report ProfNet: Experts on line U. S. Census Bureau "Urban Legends" Verify e-mail warnings before you forward them on! Webgator: Investigative sources
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.) AltaVista seems to have the best Boolean and wild card search capabilities and allows you to use + - | and ~. However, Infoseek Advanced Search provides a very user-friendly form for Boolean searches. The regular Infoseek also allows you to keep refining your results by only searching the current search results.
Setting up your own research "portal" 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 "The Wired Writer: Writing On the Internet" Copyright © 1999 James N. Watkins. All rights reserved.
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