It’s the time when professors are readying their syllabi and class preps. I always do a session on how to be a good researcher early in every journalism class.
So as I was working on that today I found a great new article on about.com about searching, “How Proper Research Works.”And if you can give this site 15 minutes, you will be a better searcher…and a better journalist.
Paul Gil, an about.com guide and the person behind @aboutnetbasics, offers a concept I like — determining whether you need to do hard research, soft research, or both. Hard research, he writes, is facts, stats and scientific information. This is the type journalists generally want.
What he calls soft research is cultural or opinion-based content including consumer product reviews, forums and blogs.
Check out his tricks and tips on which search engines to use, how to stockpile and then how to filter. Let me know below what works for you or other tips.