Mastering Online Research - A Comprehensive Guide to Effective and Efficient Search Strategies (Paperback)

Up-to-date and comprehensive how-to instruction on conducting effective online research. The competing Dummies guide on this topic is more than five years out of date, and the biggest book in the field is primarily an annotated list of Web sites, not a how-to.Written for a general audience -- people of all ages and backgrounds will find this book easy to read and understand without a technical background or advance knowledge of online researchSpecial chapter dedicated to informing writers of specific ways to research their fiction or nonfiction piecesThis book will help researchers and writers master the Internet. It provides detailed, practical techniques that the novice or experienced Internet user can immediately put to use. Clear explanations of the kinds of resource materials that can be accessed online are accompanied by easy-to-follow instructions on how to locate the Web sites through search engines, hyperlinks, and other methods. Screen shots from actual site searches show the reader how to interpret information on the credibility of the site's information, its sponsoring organization or personal owner, the currency of its data, and other important considerations when using the Internet as a research source. Techniques such as "drilling down" through layers of site and creating efficient search strings for databases will allow readers to find specific (and serendipitous) information with confidence and ease.