David Donald, training director for Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, says it's critical for reporters to learn online research skills.

"Efficient Internet use can help you find authoritative sources, background a business, put together trends and include a wealth of other facts for breaking stories. That's real power to produce a more in-depth report even when time is short," Donald says.

Reporters need solid strategies for how—and whether—to use the Internet.

"To start, you need to consider whether searching the Net is the most efficient way of answering your questions," Donald explains. "The Internet is supposed to make finding facts, sources and background easier. But if checking with your newsroom researcher is more likely to turn up reliable answers more quickly, then why waste time hunting for them on dubious Web sites? So first make sure using the Net is worth your time."

If you decide it's worth searching the Internet, here are Donald's tips:

• Plan your search. Don't just type into a search engine the first words that pop into your mind. Think about which words will limit the returns to a manageable number of relevant links. Also think of synonyms for words with multiple meanings. A couple of minutes of planning can save many minutes of plowing through useless returns.
  
  
• Read the instructions for the different search engines and learn how to use their advanced search sites. They're designed to custom-craft a search, adding efficient power without much effort.
  
  
• Learn more than one search engine. After a few searches without success on Google [www.google.com], try HotBot [www.hotbot.com], AltaVista [www.altavista.com], Ask [www.ask.com] or some of the all-in-one search engines, such as AlltheWeb [www.AlltheWeb.com].
  
  
• Use lists of links put together by journalists and already vetted. Two good starting points are the NICAR Net Tour at http://www.ire.org/training/nettour and the Reporter's Desktop at http://www.reporter.org/desktop, compiled by Duff Wilson of The New York Times.
  
  
• Realize that many useful databases on the Net are not searchable by a search engine. They are part of the "invisible Web" or "deep web" and are off limits to the standard search engines. The invisible Web includes online databases of government records. To help you find and search these databases, use such resources as Search Systems at http://www.searchsystems.net and Complete Planet at http://www.completeplanet.com.
  
  
• Use the one-page rule. It's common to get hundreds or even thousands of results from an Internet search. If you don't find what you're looking for on the first page of results, it's tempting to look at the second page, and then the third, and so on. "That takes up all the time you're trying to save by using the Internet instead of getting help from a researcher," Donald says. "You must develop the control to NOT hit the 'next' button. Your chances of finding what you're after diminish greatly with each next page. Instead, when the links on a search page don't have an answer, it's much more efficient to craft a new search and get a fresh set of new links."

What's the best search engine? "The one you learn to use well," says Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman. His Web site, PowerReporting.com [http://powerreporting.com], helps reporters do research. It includes a beat-by-beat list of online resources, as well as a tutorial for searching the Web [http://powerreporting.com/altavista.html].

If you think your search skills are sharp, try Dedman's "Web treasure hunt: 10 questions to test newsroom literacy" [http://powerreporting.com/treasure.html].

Starting Points

Here are links to Web sites mentioned in Chapter 4 of the News Reporting and Writing textbook, as well as other helpful online resources.

PowerReporting.com—Bill Dedman

http://powerreporting.com

Reporter's Desktop—Duff Wilson

http://www.reporter.org/desktop/

FACSNET—Foundation for American Communications

http://www.facsnet.org

National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting 'Net Tour

http://www.ire.org/training/nettour/

CyberTimes Navigator—The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/navigator

Web Search Tools

Google

http://www.google.com

Yahoo!

http://www.yahoo.com

AltaVista

http://www.altavista.com/

Ask.com Search Engine

http://www.ask.com/

HotBot

http://www.hotbot.com/

Librarians' Index to the Internet

http://lii.org

Dogpile

http://www.dogpile.com

AlltheWeb

http://www.alltheweb.com/

Search Tutorials

Search Engine Watch

http://searchenginewatch.com

Research Buzz

http://www.researchbuzz.com

Internet Public Library

http://www.ipl.org/div/websearching/

Specialized Search Engines

MedHunt

http://www.hon.ch/MedHunt/

LawCrawler

http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com/

SciSeek: Online Science and Nature Resource

http://www.sciseek.com

The 'Deep Web' or 'Invisible Web'

CompletePlanet

http://www.completeplanet.com/

Those Dark Hiding Places: The Invisible Web Revealed

http://robertlackie.com/invisible/index.html

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database

http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

FedStats

http://www.fedstats.gov/

Government Printing Office

http://www.access.gpo.gov/

Search Systems Free Public Records Directory

http://www.searchsystems.net

Finding Sources

ProfNet

http://www.profnet.com

AllExperts.com

http://allexperts.com/

Experts.com

http://experts.com/

Yearbook of Experts

http://www.yearbook.com

National Press Club: News Sources: 2004-2005 Directory

http://npc.press.org/newssources/searchdirectory.cfm

Special Libraries Association: Sources and Experts

www.ibiblio.org/slanews/internet/experts.html

Internet Telephone Books

The Ultimate White Pages

http://www.theultimates.com/white/

InfoSpace

http://www.infospace.com/

Google PhoneBook

http://www.google.com/help/features.html#wp

Switchboard

http://www.switchboard.com/

Listservs, Discussion Boards and Online Forums

Tile.Net

http://tile.net

Google Groups

http://groups.google.com/

Journalism Organization Listservs

Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting

http://www.ire.org/membership/listserv.html

Society of Professional Journalists

http://www.spj.org

Education Writers Association

http://www.ewa.org

Society of Environmental Journalists

http://www.sej.org

Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors

http://www.capitolbeat.org/

Commercial Information Services

Lexis-Nexis

http://www.nexis.com/research/search/

Factiva

http://www.factiva.com/