Tips to Efficiently Research Online: Social Bookmarking

When you need to find information online, the sheer volume of web sites available can be a bit daunting. If you don’t have a plan, it can feel a bit like visiting a library without having access to any kind of a catalogue to tell you where to find things. The good news is that you don’t have to work like that when you are using the Internet.

Search engines can help you find sites with keywords that are relevant to the topic you want to find information about. Using long-tail keywords can help you to narrow your search to online resources with very specific information, so don’t hesitate to use a phrase made up of several words to narrow your search.

When you have found a web site that contains information that is relevant to your search, how do you make sure that you can find it again? One highly-effective strategy is to use social bookmarking sites to keep track of the information you find online.

If you are looking for a way to keep track of your research materials online, create a folder on a social bookmarking site. You can place any web page or document that has a URL in it for future reference. Once you have the pages included on the bookmarking site, use tags and comments to remind you what information they contain that you are interested in keeping track of.

Documents aren’t the only thing you can store in a folder on a social bookmarking site. Don’t forget that images, videos, graphics and audio files can also be accessed by way of a URL, which means they can be stored in your social bookmarking folder.

Check out the sites that other people have bookmarked when you are conducting research. Many social bookmarking sites track how many users have submitted a particular link. If you check out the most popular ones that pertain to your topic, you will probably find interesting and helpful information that you can used for your own project.

To find out the latest news about the topic you are researching, check out a social bookmarking site that lists links to news stories. If Internet users feel that a particular story is worthy of being submitted numerous times, it probably contains information that you can use to give you some background about a topic or an angle you want to address in your project.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed or bogged down when trying to find information online. Using the features offered by social bookmarking sites can help you to organize your research so that you can find a fact, quote or passage quickly and efficiently.