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Tips for Conducting Internet Research

These tips work with current versions of Internet Explorer. Some may also work with current versions of Netscape.

Save your research starting point by right-clicking the mouse to explore new links.

Have a number of search results you want to explore? Open them one at a time in a new browser window. Right-click over a link. This produces a pop-up menu. Select the option for opening the link in a new browser window. Then after investigating the source, close the new browser window. This will return you to your starting point.

Use your browser to locate a document on your computer or network.

In the midst of research, you want to consult a memorandum stored on your computer. Open a new browser window. You can have as many browser windows open as your system resources will allow. Pull down the View menu, select Explorer Bar and then Folders. Locate the file, and then double-click the filename to open it in the browser window.

Remove unwanted footers and headers from the printed page.

Prior to printing a Web document, open Page Setup (File menu). Change, remove, or add header and footer codes. To discover the various codes, click the question mark symbol next to the window’s X (close window). Bring it over to the word Header or Footer in the dialog box, and then click one of those words. A pop-up explanatory screen will appear.

To prevent the Web page’s URL from appearing at the bottom of your printout, for example, remove the &u code from the footer. To insert the time of printing, add the &T code to the footer.

Create your own personalized toolbar.

If you have a few -- or even a dozen or more – Web sites you consult frequently, place them in the Links toolbar. First, load the toolbar by selecting View, Toolbars, Links. Second, clean up and organize the existing Links toolbar. To delete any unwanted items, right-click the link and select Delete. To change their order, drag a link to a new location. To give items a name that makes sense to you, right-click the link and select Rename. To add sites to the toolbar, connect to the site and drag the URL to the toolbar.

Use the Windows run command to launch a Web site quickly.

From the Start menu, select Run. Enter the Web address without the protocol indicator (e.g., www.virtualchase.com without the http://). Run will launch your browser and load the Web site simultaneously.

Print just the pages you want from a lengthy Web document.

Use the Print Preview (File menu) command to discover the page numbers of the pages you want to print. Then select print and enter the page number range.

Use Control +W to close annoying pop-up ads.

Want to close those pop-up ads faster than they can load? Make sure the ad window is active, then close it with Control +W.

Special libraries, government agencies and advocacy groups make excellent starting points for topical research.

Search engines work well for finding specific information (facts, companies, people with distinctive names, documents, etc.), but may provide hundreds of irrelevant hits when searching for topical information. Begin, instead, with the Web site of a special library, government agency, trade association or advocacy group related to the topic of your research.

Open Outlook with your browser.

Suppose you have to check your calendar, contact information or inbox, but have not yet opened Outlook. In the address line of your browser, type one of the following:

• outlook:inbox
• outlook:calendar
• outlook:contacts

Save time typing Web addresses with Control +Enter.

Note: this technique works only for .com domains. Type the domain (e.g., virtualchase, microsoft, amazon), then press Control +Enter. This inserts http://www in front of the domain, .com at the end of the domain, and initiates a connection to the site.

Decode a Web address to avoid falling prey to bogus information.

Fake Bloomberg reports and company press releases have cost investors thousands of dollars. Bad health information may lead you to risk your life. Protect yourself against bogus information by decoding a Web address and identifying the domain owner. This document shows you how.

Whois Source enables discovery of domain owners by querying multiple Whois databases. See Discover Who Owns a Domain.

Use Related Links to find the owner of the Web site’s domain name.

While viewing the Web site, select Show Related Links from the Tools menu. Links to similar Web sites will appear in a left-hand window. Near these, you will find information about the site including the domain name owner, address, and phone number. Verify this information by checking the Whois database with the site's registrar. (Now requires installation of the Alexa toolbar.)

Open a New Duplicate Window

Just discover a Web site to which you want to return? Open a duplicate of it in a new browser window with Control+N. Then minimize it and continue your research until you have time to review it.

Save Toolbar Space

Installed toolbars taking up too much space? First, customize your standard toolbar so that it does not display text labels and uses small icons. Go to View/Toolbars/Customize. In the text options field, select no text labels. In the icon options field, select small icons. Next, combine two toolbars. For example, let's say you install the Links, Teoma, Google and Merriam-Webster toolbars. Rather than allowing these to take up the allotted space, drag Teoma to the Links toolbar and Merriam-Webster to the Google toolbar. You can adjust the space you give to each by dragging them to the left or right when the cursor changes to a two-headed arrow. You can further save space by combining the address bar and the standard toolbar.

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