Internet Blogs

Many people have decided to begin their own Web logs, or blogs, to help them have a platform from which to begin to talk about their ideas and opinions. These blogs are purely opinion, but often informed by facts.

When you need to research a topic and you want to know what people are already discussing in relation to this topic, the blog world is a good place to go.

Here are some strategies for using blogs for your research:

Set up alerts. If you set up Google Alerts or some other form of collecting research, make sure you include blogs. Over time, you will begin to see certain blogs that discuss the topics that interest you.

Search by certain phrases. When you have a certain phrase that is attributed to your topic, search in a search engine by that phrase, but add "blog" to the search terms.

Find blogs in your research topic. Sometimes, just typing in the main word of your research and "blog" will point you to blogs that are talking about the things you need to research.

Review old posts. When looking at a blog, you will want to not only review the new posts, but also look at the old posts by the author to see how her or his opinions on certain topics have changed or have been refined.

Look up authors. If there is an author in your research field, check to see if that person has a blog. If so, it might discuss the topic you have to research.

Join blog comment conversations. Again, as with online magazines, make sure you join in on the blog comment conversations. This will help you learn from others and find out new opinions about a topic you need to research.

Blogs are not necessarily fact, so this is something you need to keep in mind as you read. But when you need to do research on an author or a person, reading that person's blog can give you an insight into his or her mind and character, and into what questions you might answer in writing about the person.

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