Web (Online) Research

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2. Define your research, or the issue of topical and specified research

When you start to research something, you quite often find yourself opening your favourite search engine. You type in a number of words that describe in detail what you are looking for. Well, you will get a large number of sites with loosely related or unrelated topics, but you haven't come much further in getting closer to an answer of what you were looking for. So do yourself a favour asking yourself a number of quick questions before you "google" away. What exactly are you looking for, is it as simple as a definition, or is it an overview on a particular industry segment, statistical data for a country, financial data or something else? Each and single option has different ways to start.

Let's start with the simple question of a definition for or an explanation of a particular word/ phrase/ term etc. A good way to start is the "define" function in Google, simply type into the search field "define:searchterm". (replace "searchterm" with your "search term" [link with tip]). This gives you a quick definition, if it is available. Next step or different possibility is to go on Wikipedia and search there. There you might not get quickly what you are looking for, but it is simple and useful and you might be able to find results in different languages. So while it might not exist an entry in Germany it might exist in English.

--> Key Tip: If you have a search term, try to play with the words. E.g. don't use verbs, try different spellings etc.

If you look for something more specific you might want to start at some industry association or a university etc. So define exactly what you are looking for, e.g. are you looking for some financial data, some country statistical data, some industry sector specific data, academic resources for all there are different starting points possible. Google has several services available that are tailored for specific research needs. (Overview here: Google Search Features) So when you are looking for financial information of e.g. a company Google Finance is a good place to start, offering a broad range of information about stocks, interactive charts, news, fundamental data - and what I have found very useful - names of competitors in the market. If you start in typing the company name, it provides you with names similar to what you are looking for. The site doesn't provide it for all companies internationally, but it gets better by the day ever since it was started. Another option is e.g. for academic research Google Scholar, which provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts, and articles. Both functions of Google are mentioned here only as examples. It really varies what you are looking for, but you can specifiy and tailor your research quite easily if you take the time thinking a bit more of what exactly you need.

Generally keep in mind the "economics of research", as mentioned above. Do you want to look up something rather quickly and are not worried about the quality, or do you need detailed and trustable information? Depending on the answer, plan your research accordingly.