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"I searched for 'Berlin Germany' and didn't get
anything!" "I typed in 'marketing'
and got more than five million hits.", "I know
there has to be something out there that answers my
question, but I can't find it."
These are comments I get in my
Web-searching training programs. You've probably got similar
frustrations or you wouldn't be reading this article.
Part of the reason many folks
have trouble finding things on the Web is that their teachers
taught them to do research in a way that doesn't work on the
Web. We'll deal with that first, then move on to effective
Web-search strategies.
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Your teachers were wrong
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Research in real life
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The Web is not a library.
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Effective Web-searching steps
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Know what you're looking for
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Figure out who needs to know the answer so they can do
their job
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Start in a good place
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Follow the trail of links
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Mark the trail with bookmarks
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Go back to the fork in the trail if you need to
Your teachers were wrong
Most of us learned to do research
in school as a way or preparing papers. Here's what most
of us were taught:
The first thing you do is head
down to the library. You head for the card catalog and find
books about your topic. You trundle on over to the periodicals
section and use an index like the Reader's Guide to Periodical
Literature to find references to articles.
Next you get the books and
copies of the articles. You read them and take notes. You type
up your paper, hand it in and get an "A."
That may have worked fine in
school, but what your teachers taught you was a strategy that
only works in a very specific situation. It works when the
question to be answered is precisely framed and when there is
an index to the materials available to answer the question.
In the real world things are
different.
Research in real life
Be honest now. If your boss or
a client dumps a research project in your lap, do you head for
the nearest library card catalog? Probably not. More likely,
you'll try to figure out who you know that might have the
answer you need, then pick up the phone and call him or her.
Will they know the answer
you seek? Most likely not. But usually, if you've chosen
your first call well, they'll say something like this.
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"I can't answer that, John, but
Arlene knows a lot about the subject. Here's her
number."
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"I think I just read an article on
that. Let me see if I can find it."
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"Mary's company did something like
that. Do you have her e-mail?"
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"We had a speaker at our association
meeting who could answer that. His name's Wally Bock.
His e-mail address is wbock@bockinfo.com ."
[Author's Comment: That one was just tooooo easy to pass
up]
In the real world, you start by
looking for sources of knowledge. That's because you have no
choice. There's no index to the world as a whole, no
"Searcher's Guide to World Knowledge." The same
conditions exist on the Web.
You try sources starting with
your judgment as to which is best. Then you pursue links that
seem promising. That's the best way to search on the Web.
The Web is not a library
Libraries are great. The Web is
great. They're just not great the same way. Libraries are great for
structured searching. They are indexed collections of a
variety of media. The index is the key. The Web is more like a room
full of people than it is like a library. Those people know
things. They have documents in their files. They're even
listed in directories. But there isn't an index of all of them
and what their resources are and there never will be.
That means that searching on
the Web is more like searching in the real world than it is
like searching in a library. Here are the steps for effective
Web searching.
Effective Web searching
steps
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Know what you're looking for.
Take a minute to think through
what you want to know. Try to frame your quest as finding the
answer to a specific question. Think about what you already
know that will help you find the answer. What have you read?
What projects have you done?
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Figure out who needs to know the answer so they can do
their job. You're looking for the answer
to a question, true, but you may also be looking for the
beginning of the trail to that answer. Who needs to know the answer to
your question in order to do their job? Is there a particular
profession, trade, or industry where folks would naturally
know what you want to find out? Asking those questions leads
you naturally to looking for associations, trade magazines,
and individual experts in addition to articles in some
database.
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Start in a good place .
There are three kinds of good
places to start your search on the Web. There are article
databases. There are search engines and catalogs. And there
are specialized sites.
If you have a well-structured
question, the odds are that you can find an answer in one of
the article databases on the Web. There aren't many and
some are frightfully expensive, but here are three good ones.
Northern Light Special
Collection at http://www.northernlight.com/
Encarta Encyclopedia
Site at http://www.encarta.com/
Brittanica's eBlast site
at http://www.eblast.com/
Search engines and catalogs are
also good places to start many searches. There's a difference
between the two that's important for you to know.
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Catalogs (Yahoo, LookSmart, MiningCo) are
organized by categories. If your question lends itself
to this kind of searching, start with one of these. You
should also start with one of these if you just like
searching by category, rather than by keyword.
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Search engines (HotBot, AltaVista,
Excite, Infoseek, Lycos) are indexes of words. So, if
your search is most easily done by keywords, this is a
good place to start. Search engines are eccentric about
how they index and rank Web pages. You'll get the best
results if you pay attention to the following.
Each engine has it's own rules
for searching. Follow them and your searches will be more
effective. Learn about how to separate words and phrases and
to indicate what "must" be included in your search
and what to ignore. After a while you'll find one
or two engines that you like; learn their rules well and start
most of your searches with your favorites. There is not best
search engine, there are only the ones that you like to use
and the ones you don't.
Generally speaking, using more
keywords will narrow your search and using fewer will broaden
it.
If you search for certain types
of information frequently, you'll probably discover and
bookmark some specialized sites. These are sites where
someone has put together a collection of links on a specific
topic or topics. When you find a specialized site of value to
you, bookmark it as a logical place to begin many searches.
Associations and trade
publications often have specialized Web sites in their areas
of interest. I've put together a list of Sites for
Beginning Almost Any Business Search on the page of that
name on my site at http://www.bockinfo.com/docs/biz1.htm.
In addition, there are pointers
to lists of sites in specific industries on my site's Tip
Sheets page at http://www.bockinfo.com/docs/tips.htm. Just like the saying,
"Well begun is half done," starting your search in a
good place increases the odds that you'll find what you want.
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Links are a great thing about
the Web and about Web searching. Links on the Web work like
links in your mind. In your mind, one idea reminds
you of another. One scientist, in fact, called the human
brain, "nature's connection-making engine." When you
think, you follow a chain of links. The Web allows you to do the
same thing. Follow links that interest you. Think of the
process as following a trail to the answer you seek.
Mark the trail with bookmarks .
As you run down the trail
toward where you hope to find an answer, you'll come across
sites that are interesting to you. The rule is: bookmark
anything that looks interesting.
That way, you blaze a trail of
sites that may help you find what you want. You can always go
back later and delete a bookmark that isn't as helpful as you
hope, or that has served its usefulness. But if you don't
bookmark them, when you find them, you may find yourself in
another part of the Enchanted Information Forest and not be
able to find your way back.
Go back to the fork in the trail if you need to .
It would be nice if searches
for information were all quick and easy and you found a single
trail and followed it to the answer. That doesn't happen
often, though.
Instead, it's more likely that
you'll head down several trails that turn out not to be
helpful. When that happens, back up. Go back to the last
productive site (you bookmarked it, right?) and try another
trail. Keep trying until you find what you're looking for.
Conclusions
The World Wide Web is a
treasure trove of valuable, profit-building information. And
you can search it without going crazy.
Just remember that the Web is
not a library and follow the rules for effective searching.
Happy searching!
About Competia Online
Magazine:
Competia Online Magazine
is the new
publication of Executive Resource Inc. and the primary source
for strategic analysts. It provides practical and hands-on
news, downloadable templates, tools and analysis techniques
specially designed to help those involved in the fields of
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