Optimizing Your Research Process with Search Engines
The age of information provides all of us with unprecedented access to resources and ideas. We need only type in a few keywords on Google to find what we’re looking for. We can watch YouTube videos about how to repair anything, mostly ourselves. But when it comes to journalism, filtering through the noise available online can actually become a bit overwhelming and frustrating.
Luckily, there are shortcuts and tricks that anybody, but especially journalists, can use when dealing with large quantities of information.
BE VERY CLEAR ABOUT WHAT EXACTLY YOUR QUESTION IS
Searching for “information on Los Angeles” is definitely too broad a topic — what exactly are you looking for about the city of Los Angeles? Is it its relationship to sea level? Is it its weather patterns? Obviously the more specific you are, the better — but going even a step further with specificity can really weed out misinformation and disinformation. For example: “Los Angeles Santa Ana winds top speeds.” Now you have an event, a quantity, and a specific location you’d like to gather data on.
DO NOT INCLUDE ANSWERS IN YOUR SEARCH
Confirmation bias is always a force journalists are fighting against and it can be tempting to research only the specific answer you think you’re after. If you find you are having trouble separating your own point of view from the subject, try Googling the opposite of the answer you’d like to find.
SPECIFICITY IS IMPORTANT BUT SO IS BREVITY
Asking a search engine a full question will usually result in a multitude of answers that are unhelpful. Instead you will want to zone in on only key words about the question you are trying to ask. For example, the question “Why did Austria and Hungary merge Empires in the early 20th century?” may get you the right answer, but a simple search of “Rise of Austria-Hungary” will get you to the result in a shorter amount of time.
THE MORE KEYWORDS, THE BETTER
Again, another point that seems counterintuitive. The key word here is “keywords.” Keywords signal to the search engine the kind of content you are looking for, and so providing more keywords is naturally going to narrow the search. However, it’s important to note that keywords are not just any word. Google stores a lot of data around how it processes key words and searches involving said key words. Use that information to optimize which words to use and how best to link them to your work.
PRIMARY SOURCES TAKE DIGGING
Google is the best option to find a source quickly, but in terms of finding real, accurate primary sources, further conjecture from the results you’ve found may be more helpful than the initial Google search. Google Scholar is a useful piece of the puzzle if you’re working with research as it easily discerns primary from secondary sources.
DIGITAL LIBRARIES ARE YOUR FRIEND
So much information is available online from major metropolitan libraries for free. Though it’s not as easy as hoping to find the answer you’d like on Google, primary and secondary sources otherwise unavailable will be available in public libraries. The amount of information at your fingertips through these services is unparalleled.
The world of information can be overwhelming, so we must know how to narrow our focus in order to bring the truth to the forefront of our reporting. While keeping an open mind is important, focus and clarity about the topic from the get-go will save you valuable research time.
