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This column was originally published on www.myshelf.com, in Dec. 2001, and is reprinted here with their permission. Internet Research Techniques by Nancy Marie Any truly proficient liar knows that the best lie, the most believable lie, is one that is based on truth. And any really good novelist knows that to make their works believable there must also be an element of truth behind their stories. To acquire this element of truth, however, is not always easy. Sometimes it requires research, and that for many people whether they be writer, student, or just someone possessed of an inquiring mind, research can prove to be a daunting if not overwhelming task. One of the first requirements for doing accurate research is to have on hand a liberal and eclectic research library. I have found that garage sales and second-hand stores are a great way to secure excellent research books. Among my most treasured finds include such diverse titles as: American Rifle Design and Performance, The Armourer and His Craft: From the XIth Century to the XIth Century, In Search of the Dark Ages, Sun Tzu: The Art of War, The Horseman’s Bible, Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, and I won’t go on because I think you get the idea. However, because of book shelf and monetary limitations most people can’t stock on-hand books on every subject needed to perform accurate research. That’s where my most valued tool comes into play. The Internet. Prior, to Internet access, I was a frequent pest at my local library, requesting books on inter-library loan from all over the United States. It was time consuming and also required a lot of patience, as I frequently had to wait up to three months for my local library to find and request the books I needed. The Internet has put an end to all of that, providing me with the information I need with just a few flicks of the finger. Sounds simple and it is, once you know the trick of using search engines effectively. To begin with a search engine is a program that was developed to search different web sites in the world-wide-web (www). There is always a line for the user to enter the "key words." And that is often the tricky and frustrating part of using a search engine. But once you know the rules, it’s not too hard. For example, let’s say you want to find out information on how to nurse orphan kittens. (Something I was tasked with doing this summer when my neighbor’s cat gotten eaten by coyotes and they had to leave on vacation. I didn’t have a clue as to how take care of three week-old kittens, so I turned to the Internet). In the key word search line, I entered "caring for orphan kittens." Now, I could have entered just the word, "kittens" but that would have given me probably thousands of links covering everything from kittens for sale to some rather unsavory X-rated links that I’d rather not have to deal with. By being more specific, I was able to reduce the number of links that I had to peruse and eliminate all the ones I had no interest in seeing. Furthermore, and here’s the real trick to using search engines, I surrounded the words, caring for orphan kittens with quote marks so it looked like this, "caring for orphan kittens". When you put your key words in quote marks it tells the search engine to look for exactly that phrase and nothing else. This also helps to narrow down your search. The other trick you can use when entering your key words is to put a plus (+) mark between each word, so that it looks like this "caring+for+orphan+kittens". This technique also helps narrow down your search fields. Some, search engines, specifically my favorite, www.google.com, do this automatically, so all I have to do is add the quote marks to ensure that my field of search is as narrow as possible. Other great search engines include: www.dogpile.com, www.mama.com, www.altavista.com, and everybody’s favorite: www.yahoo.com. Search engines vary in their appearance and their field of searches. So if you can’t find what you want on one, try another one. Also, you can search - search engines by putting on the key word line something like this, "orphan kittens search engines." What this will do is ask the search engine to search for search engines that will list other search engines dealing only with orphan kittens. (I don’t think an orphan kitten search engine actually exists, but with the Internet anything is possible.) To give you a head start on your research projects, I am listing some of my favorite web sites, but since my tastes are rather selective do to my school studies, they may not be for everyone. But here goes: Quick Reference: http://www.compuserve.com/research/quickreference.asp Quotations: http://www.cyber-nation.com/victory/quotations/authors/quotes Public records, background checks, people finders: http://www.sonicseek.com/index.html Medieval Sourcebook: (This is one of my very favorite sites. It has EVERYTHING!): http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html Pure Fiction - the writers' web site: http://www.purefiction.com/ World Religions: Comparative Analysis: http://www.comparativereligion.com/ World Cultures: http://www.wsu.edu/%7Edee/WORLD.HTM Comprehensive Bible: http://www.blueletterbible.org/search.html Hinduism: http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/religionet/er/hinduism/index.htm Judaism 101 - http://www.jewfaq.org/ Buddhist Studies: http://www.buddhanet.net/ The Business of Writing: http://www.sfwa.org/contracts/ Christian Writers Links: http://www.peak.org/~bonwritr/christ.htm I could go on but I won’t as I think this list gives you an idea of what’s out there on the Internet. So, happy searching and have fun doing it. This Month’s Trivia Tidbit: The programs that search engines use to search the world-wide-web are called, most appropriately: spiders.
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