Now, how you go about your online research will, of course, depend on what you're trying to find out, so figuring that out will be your first step.
Let's say you are doing research for a blog post you want to write on how to crack Internet passwords. The first thing you'll need to do is a Google search on the topic.
You'll see below, my first Google query seems to have gotten me some pretty good results.
The second result from the search looks especially helpful, so that's probably the one I would click on first. Then I'd probably try the fourth and the fifth result.
If I am satisfied with the amount of information I have learned, I might end my research with those three pages and begin writing my draft post. However, if I am not satisfied, I might rephrase my search terms and start searching again.
As you'll see, the results below from my new search have turned up some slightly different results.
In these results, I think I would probably read the first, second, fourth, and fifth items to show up. I would be willing to bet that all of those results would contain something that would help me learn details on password cracking techniques.
You can keep doing this until you are satisfied that you have learned enough on the topic. You may even want to print some of the information so you can reference it while you are drafting your blog post. (Of course, if you do that you should make sure to cite the source at the bottom of your post to avoid any accusations of plagiarism.)
Remember, the more you search and read, the more you will learn about a topic. The more you learn, the more you know, and the easier it will be to write about your subject. I would recommend that if you still feel at all unsure about what you are writing about, do more research on it!
Sometimes you can find free online quizzes that you can take just to test your knowledge on a subject. As luck would have it, I just happened to find one on this particular subject.
As I said earlier, the Internet is a wonderful resource to help you learn about, well, almost anything! There is really no boundary to what you can research and learn, as long as you use the proper techniques.
I only utilized Google in this search tutorial, but of course there are many other mediums out there to help you perform your research. Here are a couple more examples:
If you are trying to locate a person, Google may be able to help, but if it doesn't, you could use databases or websites such as:
County Clerk's website (public records)
County Property Appraiser's website
A paid service such a Lexis or Itelius
White Pages website
Or, say your auto insurance company is giving you some grief about the value of your car before it was involved in a wreck. You want to show the value was more than what they are offering. (I did this and got my insurance company to pay $5,000 more than their original offer for my wrecked car.)
Search Craigslist for similar cars in your area and their prices
Search car forums for for-sale ads for similar cars in your area and the prices
Search other car websites (Auto Trader) for cars in the area and their prices
I hope you enjoyed my tips for searching online, and maybe you even learned something! Anything you could ever want to know is online, you just have to know how to find it!
