Center for American Progress Campus Progress

Be an Internet Sleuth

On deadline? The Progress Report’s Nico Pitney shows you five ways to get the information you need when you need it.

1. CRACK THE CODES, HACK THE ARCHIVES:

America’s free press isn’t actually “free” – in fact, accessing the vast archives of major newspapers like the New York Times or the Washington Post can be a time-consuming, expensive hassle.

A few tips: when you confront the inevitable reader registration, hop over to BugMeNot.com, where you’ll find free log-in and password information for thousands of news sites. Even after you’ve registered, you’ll frequently find the story you wanted is locked up in a paid “Archive” section of the newspaper’s Web site. To find the full version of the story online, take the title of the archived article (i.e., “Polygraph Testing Starts at Pentagon In Chalabi Inquiry”) or a short excerpt from the piece ("informed Iran that the United States had broken the secret codes used by Iranian intelligence”) and Google the whole phrase (don”t forget to keep the quotation marks!). You’ll usually find a free, accessible version online.

2. NEWS FROM A PROGRESSIVE P.O.V.:

Sometimes research needs are more limited. Let’s say you’re researching a short piece on the Bush administration’s nuclear proliferation record.

You’re not looking to sift through all the long, hairy reports and exposes on the topic – all you want is a few articles that sum up the facts on White House proliferation policies and explain why they’re counterproductive. In that case, CommonDreams and TruthOut can be some of the best resources. For years, both of these sites have been compiling full article texts daily and storing them password- and registration-free.

3. YOU TOO CAN BE A GOOGLING MONKEY:

Using Google isn’t rocket science, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your skills. Here are three useful techniques that many folks should know but don’t:

Google’s cheat sheet offers more tips.

4. RESEARCH OPEN-SOURCED, RESEARCH OUTSOURCED:

Looking for a general overview of an unusual topic—like, say, male-prostitute-turned-White-House-reporter Jeff Gannon, or Vice President Cheney’s old firm Halliburton? You won’t find them in that World Book set gathering cobwebs in Grandma’s condo, but they are on the web. Check out Wikipedia, SourceWatch, and DKosopedia, all researched and written collaboratively by their readers.

Of course, if you’re really stumped, you can always outsource the research. Set up an account with a progressive “community” blog like DailyKos and ask other members for their help with your research. If the project is worthwhile, they’ll usually lend a hand.

5. THE BLOGS:

The Internet is home to literally millions of blogs. And once you get past the hundred thousand or so devoted to Good Charlotte, or else written by funny sweatpantsed men living out of their basements, there’s some pretty useful stuff.

Weblogs written by experts in their respective fields include DonkeyRising (by political analyst and American Progress fellow Ruy Teixeira), Informed Comment (by Juan Cole, professor of contemporary Middle East history at the University of Michigan), Brad DeLong’s Semi-Daily Journal (by DeLong, an assistant secretary in the Treasury Department under President Clinton), TalkLeft (by Denver-based criminal defense attorney Jeralyn Merritt), and on and on. Use the Google site-search described above to comb these blogs for a particular topic; also, download an RSS reader so you can sign up for a "subscription" to a blog you find especially interesting.