An introduction to 10 of the best online research tools available for journalists and researchers

1. 10 of the Best
Online Research Tools
for journalists -
Norwegian Online News
Association 2010
An introduction to a few
intermediate and
advanced research tools

2. Colin Meek is Consulting Editor to Journalism.co.uk
He has delivered scheduled and in-house courses in
Advanced Online Research to journalists, policy analysts and
market researchers for five years.
In-house clients have included:
Oxford Analytica, Channel 4 (UK), Cornwall Energy,
Verdens Gang (VG Norway), RPSGB and others
For more information see:
http://www.journalism.co.uk/36/43/98/

3. Avoid confusion
Image licensed under creative commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tronics/380379732/

4. 1: Google’s ‘advanced operators’
... used to pin-point results that normal
search strategies can’t reach
You can use Google’s ‘advanced’ search form,
but, used correctly, operators can cut to the
chase faster,
giving you better and more focused results

5. Precision Surfing using
google’s advanced operators
• Use advanced operators for more precision and
flexibility.
• Type them directly into the google search field
• Command google to look only:
• at specific sites;
• for specific document types; or,
• for search terms in specific places.

6. Look at this search string:
business opportunities “london olympics” ~advice site:.com
• site:.com restricts the search to ‘.com’ websites
only.
• ~advice searches for synonyms of advice such
as ‘help’ or ‘guide’
• “london olympics” acts as a phrase search

7. • focused results
• from relevant
agencies and
companies

8. • Combine advanced operators with key search
terms to craft precise search strings.
• Sometimes called ‘forensic surfing’

9. Combine operators for
powerful search
Looking for case studies from official sources of swine flu
outbreaks in UK schools:
site:.gov.uk “swine flu * schools” ~outbreak
Here, the asterisk acts as a wildcard for words between ‘swine
flu’ and ‘schools’

10. Cases identifed
in first page of
results...

11. You can be creative with search terms in
your area of interest
For example:
site:.gov.uk “strictly confidential” filetype:doc
staffing ~reductions

12. • focused leads
• worth exploring
further

13. For a full description of google’s advanced operators see:
http://www.slideshare.net/ardessie

14. 2: Google’s Timeline Tool
Instantly get a story in context and hunt down historical
information on trending topics
Do a normal search -
Go to ‘more options’ -
Select ‘Timeline’ -
Select date range.

15. Drill down to reveal peaks in news interest

16. And access news
coverage from those
dates.

17. 3: Add ‘database’ to your key-word search term
If you are doing a story on any subject and you think a publicly
accessible database (or official database) may exist - add the
word ‘database’ to a relevant keyword search
For example, if you are doing a story on anti-depressant
medication in Norway?
Use this term in your search engine:
norway prescription database

18. That search returns the Norwegian Prescription Database as the
first hit where you can interrogate prescription records
For more on the ‘hidden’ or ‘invisible’ web:
http://bit.ly/19evws

19. 4: Tweetdeck
Tweetdeck is an extraordinarily powerful tool that lets you
monitor changing Twitter content in real-time
Download it free from tweetdeck.com

20. The respected web research blogger Phil Bradley on this
month’s Mexican Earthquake:
Two hours after eye witness accounts started to appear -
BBC News site had still failed to mention the earthquake...

21. Phil Bradley:
There really wasn't any doubt in my mind that Twitter is THE first
place for news stories...
but the amount, the richness and variety of information is
becoming quite astonishing.
The only thing that surprises me....is the inability of the
traditional news media to keep up to date with what's going on.
And you know what - they can't.
Because they can't be everywhere, in the way that Twitter is.
Me:
But, the next best thing to being everywhere, is to monitor the
Web - including Twitter - effectively.

23. Create unique lists of twitter users to track subjects and news
items.

24. Add search “columns” to track posts on specific terms.
From the same interface:
Monitor specific users.
Message specific users.
Turn posts into emails.

25. 5: Use RSS to filter feeds
Stop hunting for news that you can monitor automatically.
Configure tools correctly so your sources come to you.

26. Choose a RSS reader that lets you set up smart feeds
to filter your subscriptions..
Which lets you set
rules for which
posts are included
If you do this well,
and stay focused,
you don’t have to
scroll through
dozens or even
hundreds of blog
posts.

27. 6:Evernote
Lets you...........
Store web pages
- clip them
- annotate
- store pictures
- create notes
-share them
- file them
- and much more

28. With an easy ‘webclipper’
button you can use directly
from your browser
Everything is searchable, including handwritten notes and images.
And your whole file of
information is synced
between your desktop
computer and Evernote
online

29. 7: Interclue
The browser plugin that lets you links; saving you from opening
endless windows.
It also lets you:
- save or email the snapshot of the page and gives you additional
data about the link.

30. An Interclue pop-up from a BBC news page letting you
read the whole of a linked news story.
For more on improving your browser: http://bit.ly/2kR9B9

31. 8: Google’s Cache
Google’s Cache is an under-used tool that lets you:
- look back in time to when the page was last indexed by
Google;
- lets you browse suspect sites anonymously; and,
- can enable you to bypass site subscription fees.

32. Google’s cache of a page from the ‘Stormfront’ site

33. 9: Collecta
One of the best new wave of real-time search engines that lets
you monitor updating web content.

34. 10: Yahoo Pipes

35. Here is a simple example that demonstrates the power of Pipes:
Here I created a pipe
that extracts stories
from official RSS feeds
that contain one of the
following terms:
‘swine flu’
‘h1n1’
‘mrsa’
‘norovirus’.
It also converts a normal Google search into the RSS
feed.

36. This pipe was created to track a brand mentioned in social media
sites.

37. For more information on how to use Pipes:
http://bit.ly/iDUT0 for a video demo and...
http://bit.ly/RRkQX, or
http://bit.ly/9GShP for more advanced options.
Lots of other guides exist online