Difference between revisions of "Research using the web"

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==Resources and useful links==
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==Web search tips==
  
===Press and Media databases===
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In some cases, researching affiliations between people, groups and organizations is as simple as typing the names involved into the Google search box.
  
Lexis Nexis [http://www.lib.strath.ac.uk/lnexecutive.htm]
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You can narrow down your search by enclosing names containing more than one word in inverted commas. For example, if you are researching links between Joe Bloggs and the company Toxic & Lethal Co., you'll find that typing
  
(requires Athens login)
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:"joe bloggs" "toxic & lethal"
  
BugMeNot. Lets you skip the registration process for many online news sites – although not those requesting paid subscriptions. http://www.bugmenot.com
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provides more useful hits than typing
  
NewsMap Useful little site that tracks graphically what is making the headlines at any given time. http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm
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:joe bloggs toxic & lethal
  
Mailinator. Allows you to generate a free one-time only, incoming-only email address http://www.mailinator.com/mailinator/index.jsp
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because the latter will throw up results relating to all Joes, all Bloggses, and all mentions of the words "toxic" and "lethal". At the same time, it's often useful to omit words like "Co." from your search because the way this is written in your sources may change significantly. So some sources will favour Toxic & Lethal Company, while others will favour Toxic & Lethal Co., while others will omit the "Co." and "Company" part of the name altogether.
  
Archives
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If one of the words, names or terms you are searching has an alternative meaning that you want to exclude from your search, you can do this by typing that meaning into the search box using a "-" sign. For example, you're searching for a politician called James Smith, but he has the same name as the lead singer in the rock band Filth. You can get rid of a huge amount of irrelevant sites if you use the minus sign, thus
  
GlasgowUniversity http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/about/default.html
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:"james smith" -filth -music -rock
  
HBoS http://www.hbosplc.com/abouthbos/history/group_archives.asp
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For more Google search tips, see [http://www.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=searchguides.html&ctx=basics&hl=en Google's Basic search help]
  
RBS http://www.rbs.com/about02.asp?id=ABOUT_US/OUR_HERITAGE/OUR_ARCHIVES
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==Resources and useful links==
 
 
National Archives of Scotland http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/default.asp
 
 
 
Scottish Executive Consultations http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current
 
 
 
Scottish Executive Publications http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent
 
 
 
Glasgow City Council Archives http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Libraries/Collections/Localhistory/CityCouncilArchives/
 
 
 
Resources on lobbying/corporate power
 
 
 
Spinwatch http://www.spinwatch.org
 
 
 
Sourcewatch http://www.sourcewatch.org
 
 
 
Corporate Watch UK http://www.corporatewatch.org
 
 
 
Corporate Watch US http://www.corpwatch.org
 
 
 
Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org
 
 
 
Open Secrets, guide to money in (US) politics: http://www.opensecrets.org/
 
 
 
LobbyingInfo.org (part of Public Citizen) http://www.lobbyinginfo.org/
 
 
 
Clean Up Washington (part of Public Citizen) http://www.cleanupwashington.org/
 
 
 
White House for Sale (data on campaign finance in past US Presidential election) http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/
 
 
 
Freedom of Information
 
 
 
Statewatch – FOI in Europe http://www.statewatch.org/foi.htm
 
 
 
“Your right to know” Heather Brooke’s FOIA advice site. http://www.yrtk.org
 
Campaign for Freedom of Information http://www.cfoi.org.uk/
 
Open Secrets A blog about freedom of information by Martin Rosenbaum http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/
 
 
 
Government Offices, Official Sources
 
 
 
Information Commissioner’s Office (England and Wales) http://www.ico.gov.uk/
 
 
 
Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/
 
 
 
Office of Public Sector Information http://www.opsi.gov.uk/
 
Departmental pages
 
Scottish Executive FoI page: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI
 
 
 
Ministry of Defence http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FreedomOfInformation/
 
 
 
Foreign Office http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1032370383930
 
 
 
Cabinet Office/Downing Street
 
 
 
Publication Scheme http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/publicationscheme/
 
 
 
FoI Page: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/foi/foi.asp
 
 
 
Department of Health http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/FreedomOfInformation/fs/en
 
 
 
Department of Food and Rural Affairs http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/opengov/accessinfo.htm
 
 
 
Governmental publications/records
 
 
 
House of Commons Publications http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmpubns.htm
 
 
 
House of commons Archives
 
 
 
http://www.parliament.uk/publications/archives.cfm
 
 
 
Scottish Parliament Official Report
 
 
 
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/index.htm
 
 
 
National Assembly for Wales Record of Proceedings
 
 
 
http://www.wales.gov.uk/keypubrecordproceedings/index.htm
 
  
National Statistics (formerly ONS) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
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===Press and media databases===
  
Official Journal of the European Union
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*[http://www.lib.strath.ac.uk/lnexecutive.htm Lexis Nexis] (requires Athens login)
  
http://publications.europa.eu/general/oj_en.html
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*[http://www.bugmenot.com BugMeNot] - lets you skip the registration process for many online news sites – although not those requesting paid subscriptions.  
  
European Commission Representations - Office in Scotland http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/about_us/office_in_scotland/index_en.htm
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*[http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm NewsMap] - useful little site that tracks graphically what is making the headlines at any given time.  
  
Europe in the UK: Information Network
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*[http://www.mailinator.com/mailinator/index.jsp Mailinator] - allows you to generate a free one-time only, incoming-only email address
  
http://www.europe.org.uk/info/
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===Archives===
  
European Union Documents
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*[http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/about/default.html Glasgow University Archives]
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*[http://www.hbosplc.com/abouthbos/history/group_archives.asp HBoS Archives]
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*[http://www.rbs.com/about02.asp?id=ABOUT_US/OUR_HERITAGE/OUR_ARCHIVES RBS Archives]
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*[http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/default.asp National Archives of Scotland]
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*[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current Scottish Executive Consultations]
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*[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent Scottish Executive Publications]
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*[http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Libraries/Collections/Localhistory/CityCouncilArchives/ Glasgow City Council Archives]
  
http://europa.eu/documents/index_en.htm
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===Resources on lobbying/corporate power===
  
Web research
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*[http://www.spinwatch.org Spinwatch]
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*[http://www.sourcewatch.org Sourcewatch]
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*[http://www.corporatewatch.org Corporate Watch UK]
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*[http://www.corpwatch.org Corporate Watch US]
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*[http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]
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*[http://www.opensecrets.org/ Open Secrets], guide to money in (US) politics
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*[http://www.lobbyinginfo.org/ LobbyingInfo.org] (part of Public Citizen)
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*[http://www.cleanupwashington.org/ Clean Up Washington] (part of Public Citizen)
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*[http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ White House for Sale] (data on campaign finance in past US Presidential election)
  
Web archive/Way back machine http://www.archive.org/index.php
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===Freedom of Information===
  
The New York Times Newsroom Navigator. This is the home page of all journalists on the NY Times http://tech.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/cybertimesnavigator/index.html/
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*[http://www.statewatch.org/foi.htm Statewatch] – FOI in Europe
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*[http://www.yrtk.org Your right to know] – Heather Brooke’s FOIA advice site.
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*[http://www.cfoi.org.uk/ Campaign for Freedom of Information]
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*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/ Open Secrets] – a blog about freedom of information by Martin Rosenbaum
  
STD Code Reverse List. Discover which area a dialling code is in: http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/section/tci/locator.shtml
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===Government offices, official sources===
  
Reverse List of US telephone area codes: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/bsy/www/area.html
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*[http://www.ico.gov.uk/ Information Commissioner’s Office]
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*[http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/ Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner]
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*[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ Office of Public Sector Information]
  
Royal Mail postcode/address finder http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/postcodefinder;jsessionid=BSED5FPVSVAQSFB2IGFENZQUHRAYWQ2K;jsessionid=BSED5FPVSVAQSFB2IGFENZQUHRAYWQ2K?catId=400145&gear=postcode
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===Departmental pages===
  
How to find the owners of domain names
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*[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI Scottish Executive FoI page]
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*[http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FreedomOfInformation/ Ministry of Defence]
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*[http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1032370383930 Foreign Office]
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*[http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/publicationscheme/ Cabinet Office/Downing Street Publication Scheme]
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*[http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/foi/foi.asp Cabinet Office FoI Page]
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*[http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/FreedomOfInformation/fs/en Department of Health]
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*[http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/opengov/accessinfo.htm Department of Food and Rural Affairs]
  
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp
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===Governmental publications/records===
  
http://www.whois.net/
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*[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmpubns.htm House of Commons Publications]
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*[http://www.parliament.uk/publications/archives.cfm House of commons Archives]
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*[http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/index.htm Scottish Parliament Official Report]
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*[http://www.wales.gov.uk/keypubrecordproceedings/index.htm National Assembly for Wales Record of Proceedings]
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*[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ National Statistics] (formerly ONS)
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*[http://publications.europa.eu/general/oj_en.html Official Journal of the European Union]
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*[http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/about_us/office_in_scotland/index_en.htm European Commission Representations - Office in Scotland]
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*[http://www.europe.org.uk/info/ Europe in the UK: Information Network]
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*[http://europa.eu/documents/index_en.htm European Union Documents]
  
http://www.allwhois.com/
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===Web research===
  
http://www.whois.sc/
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[http://www.archive.org/index.php Web archive/Way back machine]
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This search facility is useful if you have a dead weblink to an article or website, as it keeps an archive of old web addresses with their associated web pages or articles.
  
http://www.whois-search.com/
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The [http://tech.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/cybertimesnavigator/index.html/ New York Times Newsroom Navigator]. This is the home page of all journalists on the NY Times
  
http://samspade.org/
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*[http://www.ukphoneinfo.com/locator.php UK Telephone Code Locator] - Discover which area a dialling code is in
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*[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/bsy/www/area.html Reverse List of US telephone area codes]
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*[http://www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder/ Royal Mail postcode/address finder]
  
For .uk domains: http://www.nominet.org.uk/
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===Powerbase guides and resources for research===
  
Reverse DNS (IP Address) lookup. http://remote.12dt.com/
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*[[Resources for studying propaganda]]
  
Monitor changes in websites: http://www.changedetection.com/monitor.html
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*[[How to research front groups]]
  
Or: http://www.changedetect.com/
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===How to find the owners of domain names===
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*[[How to find owners of domain names]]
  
Statistical Information on the net. Useful database of Statistical Information – based in US. http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stats.html
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===Corporate information===
  
Corporate information
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*[http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ Companies House]
  
Companies House http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/
 
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
 +
[[Category:Powerbase Help]]

Latest revision as of 12:12, 10 March 2013

Web search tips

In some cases, researching affiliations between people, groups and organizations is as simple as typing the names involved into the Google search box.

You can narrow down your search by enclosing names containing more than one word in inverted commas. For example, if you are researching links between Joe Bloggs and the company Toxic & Lethal Co., you'll find that typing

"joe bloggs" "toxic & lethal"

provides more useful hits than typing

joe bloggs toxic & lethal

because the latter will throw up results relating to all Joes, all Bloggses, and all mentions of the words "toxic" and "lethal". At the same time, it's often useful to omit words like "Co." from your search because the way this is written in your sources may change significantly. So some sources will favour Toxic & Lethal Company, while others will favour Toxic & Lethal Co., while others will omit the "Co." and "Company" part of the name altogether.

If one of the words, names or terms you are searching has an alternative meaning that you want to exclude from your search, you can do this by typing that meaning into the search box using a "-" sign. For example, you're searching for a politician called James Smith, but he has the same name as the lead singer in the rock band Filth. You can get rid of a huge amount of irrelevant sites if you use the minus sign, thus

"james smith" -filth -music -rock

For more Google search tips, see Google's Basic search help

Resources and useful links

Press and media databases

  • BugMeNot - lets you skip the registration process for many online news sites – although not those requesting paid subscriptions.
  • NewsMap - useful little site that tracks graphically what is making the headlines at any given time.
  • Mailinator - allows you to generate a free one-time only, incoming-only email address

Archives

Resources on lobbying/corporate power

Freedom of Information

Government offices, official sources

Departmental pages

Governmental publications/records

Web research

Web archive/Way back machine This search facility is useful if you have a dead weblink to an article or website, as it keeps an archive of old web addresses with their associated web pages or articles.

The New York Times Newsroom Navigator. This is the home page of all journalists on the NY Times

Powerbase guides and resources for research

How to find the owners of domain names

Corporate information

Notes