* You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
* Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
* What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.
* Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize, just as I did, that there's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path.
* I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.
* Have you ever had a
* Welcome
* Don't think you are, know you are.
* "You think that’s air you're breathing now
So this BLOG is about RESEARCHING on your own and some ways to properly do it. I can only show you the door, you have to walk through it. Are you ready to FREE YOUR MIND? Well, here goes.....
Everyone or just about everyone thinks that GOOGLE and Wikipedia is the best way or the only way to really get results online. WRONG! Real research is what is called re-search. You need to have a critical and a skeptical mindset to filter the information you'll be finding .
You'll need to sift through many, many web pages and must have good and reliable methods to filter them and then the patience & critical thinking skills. Please take heed to these suggested steps in
1. Is your topic "Hard Research", "Soft Research", or Both?
A) Hard Research - describes scientific and objective research, where proven facts, figures, statistics, and measurable evidence are absolutely critical.
* Is income tax illegal in the USA?
* The BP oil spill is going to cause cancer in Mississippi residents within 5 years.
* Chronic back pain can be treated by a combination of anti-inflammatories, caffeine, and fish oil.
* Duct tape can cure warts.
B) 'Soft research' describes topics that are more subjective, cultural, and opinion-based. Soft research sources will be less scrutinized by the readers. Examples of soft research topics:
* Android phones are better than Apple iPhones.
*Flickr is the best free photo gallery online.
*Why the Episcopalian Church is more youth-
*Savannah cats make good house-pets.
*The best high definition TV set is the Sharp Aquos.
C) Combined soft and hard research requires the most work, because this hybrid topic broadens your search requirements. Not only do you need to find hard facts and figures, but you will need to debate against very strong opinions to make your case. Politics and international economy topics are the biggest examples of hybrid research.
2. Which Online Authorities Are Suitable for Your Research Topic.
A) Soft research topics are often about collating the opinions of respected online writers. Many soft research authorities are not academics, but rather writers who have practical experience in their field. Soft research, usually means the following sources:
Blogs, including personal
Forums and discussion sites (e.g. Police discussion forum)
Consumer product review sites (e.g. ZDnet, Epinions).
Commercial sites that are advertising-driven (e.g. About.com)
Tech and computer sites (e.g.Overclock.net).
B) Hard research topics require hard facts and academically-respected evidence. An opinion blog will not cut it; you will need to find publications by scholars, experts, and professionals with credentials. The Invisible Web will often be important for hard research. Accordingly, here are possible content areas
Academic journals (e.g.
Government publications (e.g. Google's 'Uncle Sam' search).
Government authorities (e.g.
Scientific and medical content, sanctioned by known authorities (e.g. Scirus.com).
Non-government websites that are NOT influenced by advertising and obvious sponsorship e.g. Consumer Watch)
Archived news (e.g. Internet Archive)
3. Use a Variety of DIFFERENT Search Engines and Keywords
This is important, use different search engines and 3-5 keyword combinations. Be patient and constantly adjust your keywords for
Firstly, start with broad initial researching at
Secondly, narrow and deepen your Visible Web searching with Google and Ask.com. Once you have experimented with combinations of 3 to 5 different keywords, these 3 search engines will deepen the results pools for your keywords.
Thirdly, go beyond Google, for Invisible Web (Deep Web) searching. Because Invisible Web pages are not spidered by Google, you'll need to be patient and use slower and more specific search engines like:
Scirus (for scientific searching) *Dead Link!
Internet Archive (to backwards-search past, current events)
Advanced Clusty Searching (meta searching specific parts of the Internet)
Surfwax (much more knowledge-focused and much less commercial-driven than Google)
US Government Library of Congress
4. Stockpile Possible Good Content & Bookmark it.
Really easy but takes time. Gather all the possible sites into organized piles so you can sift through it later. Here's a great idea for routine bookmarking pages:
CTRL-Click the interesting search engine result links. This will spawn a new tab page each time you CTRL-Click.
When you have 3 or 4 new tabs, quickly browse them and do an initial assessment on their credibility.
Bookmark any tabs you consider credible on first glance.
Close the tabs.
Repeat with the next batch of links.
This method, after about 45 minutes, will have yielded you dozens of bookmarks to sift through.
5. Now it's time to Filter and Validate the Content.
This is a very slow process. You need to sift and filter out which content is legitimate, and which is just trash. This is the most important step of all if you're doing hard research, because your resources MUST withstand close examination later.
Carefully consider the author/source, and the date of publication. Is the author an authority with professional credentials, or someone who is peddling their wares and trying to sell you a book? Is the page undated , or unusually old? Does the page have its own domain name (e.g. honda.com, e.g. gov.co.uk), or is it some deep and obscure page buried at MySpace?
Be suspicious of personal web pages, and any commercial pages that have a shoddy, amateurish presentation. Spelling errors, grammar errors, poor formatting, cheesy advertising on the side, absurd fonts, too many blinking emoticons... these are all red flags that the author is not a serious resource, and does not care about the quality of their publishing.
Be suspicious of scientific or medical pages that display scientific or medical advertising. For example: if you are researching veterinarian advice, be wary if the veterinarian web page displays blatant advertising for dog medicine or pet food. Advertising can possibly indicate a conflict of interest or hidden agenda behind the writer's content.
Be suspicious of any ranting, overstating, overly-positive, or overly-negative commentary. If the author insists on ranting and crying foul, or conversely seems to shower excessive praise, that could be a red flag that there is dishonesty and fraudulent motivations behind the writing.
Commercial consumer websites can be good resources, but be skeptical of every comment you read. Just because 7 people rave that Pet Food X is good for their dogs does not necessarily mean it is good for your dog. Similarly, if 5 people out of 600 complain about a particular vendor, that doesn't mean the vendor is necessarily bad. Be patient, be skeptical, and be slow to form an opinion.
Use your intuition if something seems amiss with the web page. Perhaps the author is just a little too positive, or seems a little too closed to other opinions. Maybe the author uses profanity, name-calling, or insults to try to make his point. The formatting of the page might seem childlike and haphazard. Or you get the sense that the author is trying to sell you something. If you get any subconscious sense that there is something not quite right about the web page, then trust your intuition.
Use Google 'link:' feature to see the 'backlinks' for a page. This technique will list incoming hyperlinks from the major websites that recommend the web page of interest. These backlinks will give you an indicator how much respect the author has earned around the Internet. Simply go to google and enter 'link: www.( the web page's address)' to see the backlinks listed.
6. Now it's Time to Make That FINAL DECISION on Which Argument You Now Support.
After spending a few hours researching, your initial opinion may have changed. Maybe you are relieved, maybe you are more afraid, maybe you've just learned something and opened your mind that much more. As in the movie, The Matrix, Inside the Matrix you are plugged in, hopelessly dependant on the system. If you are UNPLUGGED, you will Believe the unbelievable and FREE YOUR MIND! Your Fight for the Future Begins!
If you have a new opinion, you might have to redo your research. Facts that support your new informed opinion.
7. Quote and Cite the Content. While there is not a single universal standard for citing (acknowledging) quotes from the Internet, the Modern Language Association and American Psychological Association are two very respected citing methods:
Here is anexample MLA citation:
Aristotle. Poetics.Trans . S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive.
Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.
Here is a sample APA citation:
Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A
List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 149.
Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving
More details: how to cite Internet references.
More details: The Purdue University Owl Guide explains both of these citing methods in detail:
The MLA citing method
The APA citing method
Remember: DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. You must either directly quote the author, or rewrite and summarize the content (along with appropriate citing). But to restate the author's words as your own is illegal, and will get you a failing mark on your thesis or paper and when talking with others and they are aware you are plagiarizing, youloose your credibility.
8. Use a Research-Friendly Web Browser
Researching is repetitive and slow. You will want a tool that supports many open pages, and easily backtracks through the previous pages. A good research-friendly Web browser offers:
Multiple tab pages open simultaneously.
Bookmarks/favorites that are fast and easy to manage.
Page history that is easy to recall.
Loads pages quicklyfor your computer's memory size.
Of the many choices in 2013, the best research browsers are Chrome and Firefox, followed by Opera. IE10 is also a competent browser, but try the previous 3 choices for their speed and memory economy. On Android Phones orIPhones the DOLPHIN BROWSER is excellent with the Jet Pack Ad-on.
Obviously, it's re-searching.... the time-consuming and repeated method of searching good information from the bad. It is going to be slow because it's about diligence and skeptical hard questioning. Having said that continue to keep your mindset positive, and enjoy the adventure. 90% of the things you read you will reject, take pleasure in how humorous (and how moronic) some internet content is, and put your CTRL-Click tabs along with your bookmarks/favorites to good use.
Have patience, be skeptical, be inquisitive, and be slow to shape an opinion!!!
Here's an excellent website with loads of great re-search tools and sites. You'll be impressed!
Resources to Search the Invisible Web
9. Best Of Luck with Internet Researching!
Without question, it's RE-SEARCHING.... the gradual and repetitive procedure for sifting good information and the bad. It is going to be slow-moving since it's about persistence and skeptical hard questioning. Nevertheless maintain your mindset and benefit from the discovery process. Though 90% of everything you read you are going to toss, delight in just how fun (and also how moronic) some online content material is, and put your CTRL-Click tabs as well as your bookmark/favorites to sound use .
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/navigatingthenet/tp/How-to-Properly-Research-Online.htm
UPDATED TOOLS 11/8/2015
Deep Web Search Engines
Hidden Wiki Tor Deep Web Link List
Onion City, a new search engine for online underground markets that makes it easier to find and buy drugs, guns, stolen credit cards directly from your Chrome, Internet Explorer or Firefox browser without installing and browsing via Tor Browser. Google Chrome has a plugin for a cheap price!
Related articles
Here is an
Aristotle. Poetics.
Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
13 Sept. 2007. Web. 4 Nov. 2008. ‹http://classics.mit.edu/›.
Here is a sample APA citation:
Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A
List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 149.
Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving
More details: how to cite Internet references.
More details: The Purdue University Owl Guide explains both of these citing methods in detail:
The MLA citing method
The APA citing method
Remember: DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. You must either directly quote the author, or rewrite and summarize the content (along with appropriate citing). But to restate the author's words as your own is illegal, and will get you a failing mark on your thesis or paper and when talking with others and they are aware you are plagiarizing, you
8. Use a Research-Friendly Web Browser
Researching is repetitive and slow. You will want a tool that supports many open pages, and easily backtracks through the previous pages. A good research-friendly Web browser offers:
Multiple tab pages open simultaneously.
Bookmarks/favorites that are fast and easy to manage.
Page history that is easy to recall.
Loads pages quickly
Of the many choices in 2013, the best research browsers are Chrome and Firefox, followed by Opera. IE10 is also a competent browser, but try the previous 3 choices for their speed and memory economy. On Android Phones or
Obviously, it's re-searching...
Have patience, be skeptical, be inquisitive, and be slow to shape an opinion!!!
Here's an excellent website with loads of great re-search tools and sites. You'll be impressed!
Resources to Search the Invisible Web
9. Best Of Luck with Internet Researching!
Without question, it's RE-SEARCHING...
Wake up and get out of the MATRIX! As Morpheus said, "Morpheus: The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." Do your RE-SEARCH properly and you will be awakened and you'll be able to share your new found knowledge with friends and family and help them unplug from the Matrix too. Best of Luck!
Source:
Gigi, Paul (2013) How Proper Online Research Workshttp://netforbeginners.about.com/od/navigatingthenet/tp/How-to-Properly-Research-Online.htm
UPDATED TOOLS 11/8/2015
Deep Web Search Engines
Hidden Wiki Tor Deep Web Link List
Onion City, a new search engine for online underground markets that makes it easier to find and buy drugs, guns, stolen credit cards directly from your Chrome, Internet Explorer or Firefox browser without installing and browsing via Tor Browser. Google Chrome has a plugin for a cheap price!
Related articles
