Internet Research Can Be Faulty at Times

In my last post, I gave reasons why internet searches may not be the best way to find people to interview for an article or book, background information for a personal project, and so on. What might you do, instead?

For one thing, perhaps go old-school and find (on the internet!) the professional organization for your topic. Contact it and explain your needs; people there may be able to suggest members who are experts in the exact area you need to discuss, who are doing interesting studies or fieldwork you may be able to mention, or who have developed a new theory or slant on your topic. Similarly, you can look at the organization’s last or upcoming conference agenda to find the names of speakers and the kind of information they’re presenting. Conference sessions usually present something new and interesting or not generally known–and editors love that.

You may want to contact a university with a good program related to your topic. Most of the time its teaching staff will be working on relevant projects or have specialized knowledge that again, will be new and fresh for your readership. How about a research group? This is a great way to find out what’s going on now and/or what the current concerns are in the field. Look at professional papers that have been recently written on your topic; either the author or co-writers could be good people to contact. Research papers usually list team members or cite other papers and expertise tapped for the project. Those sources could also be great.

My point is this: If someone or something is easy for you to find on the internet, it will be easy for 10,000 other writers to find. If you want to stand out, tap more than the “same old” sources, and give your editor and readers information that not everyone else is going to find,.