Living and working in the information age isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. There’s just too much information available, and I get frustrated trying to sort through it. How do I find the proverbial needle in the haystack? How do I even find the right haystack? I’m so glad I’ve found Mastering Online Research: A Comprehensive Guide to Effective and Efficient Search Strategies. Published in 2007, it’s by Maura Shaw.

I added this book to my Amazon wish list and later bought the book after I read a review of it in Terry Whalin’s blog. In fact, I borrowed the photo from his blog for this review. This is not a book that you would read all curled up in your easy chair with your hot chocolate at hand. This is a reference book that will help you learn how to search the Web in ways you never heard of before. The techniques described are useful to writers whether they write fiction or non-fiction. Shaw covers Internet searches, from simple to advanced. You’ll learn how to judge the quality of your search results and how to handle attribution and copyright issues. There are chapters specifically about searching for people, news, images, audio, and video files. One chapter applies to online research for writers. It’s easier to read and absorb if you read a couple of chapters in a sitting. I plan to keep my copy at my desk alongside my dictionary, my style manuals, and my phone book. I’ve already found it useful in a number of ways.