Jeff South of the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University specializes in integrating computer-assisted reporting into the journalism curriculum. Besides teaching undergraduates, he trains reporters and editors how to use computers to find and analyze information for news stories.

Here are some of South's online research tips that you might find handy.

The Internet

The Internet is a global network of millions of computers, all connected by telephone lines and other wires. Because they are connected, they can share information—in several different ways.

One way is by e-mail. If your computer is on the Internet, you can send a message to somebody else on the Internet. Increasingly, reporters are using e-mail to contact and interview sources for stories: They find e-mail addresses for prospective sources in publications, on the Net or through other means, and then they send a message seeking information or an interview. There also are e-mail discussion groups, called listservs, devoted to particular topics, from journalism and government operations to movies and hobbies. A warning, however: Before quoting from a listserv, get permission from the person who posted the information. And beware that e-mail messages are easy to fake: It's best to check out the sender with a phone call or in person.

Another way of sharing information on the Internet is through the World Wide Web. The Web is part of the Net where information—words or a picture—can be linked to other information. This other information can be on the same "Web page," on another page on the same computer or on another computer half a world away. When you click on a link with a Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, it takes you to this other information.

The links are created with coding called hypertext. Usually, if you see words underlined or in blue on a Web page, it means there's a link there.

Here's how to tell where the links are: If you put your cursor on something and it turns into a little hand, there's a link—so click once. (When your cursor is on the link, you can see the link's Internet address at the bottom of your browser window.)

World Wide Web addresses, also called URLs (for Uniform Resource Locator), follow a pattern:

• They usually begin with www.
• This is followed by a shorthand name of the organization that runs the site. IBM uses ibm; the Census Bureau uses census.
• They end with three letters that describe the organization. These letters are called the top-level domain. Universities and other educational institutions use edu; businesses, com; the federal government, gov; military organizations, mil; and nonprofit groups, org.

Thus, www.ibm.com is the URL for International Business Machines, and www.census.gov in the Web address for the Census Bureau.

The URLs for state governments follow a different pattern: www.state.XX.us—in which the "XX" is the state's postal code. So, New York State is online at www.state.ny.us.

Besides being able to figure out a URL, there's another reason to understand domain names and how Web addresses work: Several Internet search tools let you limit your search to specific domains. You can search only mil or gov sites, for instance—or only sites on, say, Pennsylvania state government's computers (www.state.pa.us). That way, you can zero in on the most authoritative Web sites: those maintained by government agencies.

Finding a URL

Many Web site addresses are not obvious—and it can be especially hard to find a Web page with a specific nugget of information. Fortunately, there are search tools to help you.

If you are looking for an entire Web site about a particular subject, use Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) or the Librarians' Index to the Internet (www.lii.org). These tools are Web site directories. People, not computers, have examined the sites in each directory and catalogued them by subject.

If you are looking for a Web page with specific information—something that could be on any site—use a search engine, such as Google (www.google.com) or AltaVista (www.altavista.com). Using computer power, search engines try to index every word on every Web page they can find. So, when I type in key words, AltaVista and Google give me a list of Web pages containing them.

If you are looking for especially obscure information, use a metasearch tool like Mamma (www.mamma.com) or Metacrawler (www.metacrawler.com). These sites submit your search request to several search tools at once.

Finding Information Fast

• Realize that search tools are a last resort. Yahoo covers only about 5 percent of the Web; AltaVista and Google, about 20 percent. It can take months for a newly posted Web page to get into a directory or search engine.
• Ask people where information is. Use listservs. (To find a listserv on a given topic, try www.tile.net.)
• Monitor sites that are likely to link to new information, such as the Librarians' Index to the Internet and the Internet Scout Report (http://scout.wisc.edu).
• Keep lists of favorite sites and visit them often. To find expert sources, for instance, many reporters use ProfNet (www.profnet.com) and the Yearbook of Experts, Authorities and Spokespersons (www.yearbook.com).
• Keep a list of "lookup" sites: for phone numbers and e-mail addresses (www.theultimates.com), government documents (www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/), etc.
• When necessary, search—in a smart way. Master a few search tools and their advanced features. Know how to limit a search to specific domains and how to zero in on the most recently posted information.