Find the facts that make your writing feel real.
For writers, online research is often more demanding than a quick search. A script, character, setting or factual detail may need something precise, obscure or human — and ordinary search results only show part of what is available.
This page introduces a more useful way to think about internet research: not just typing a phrase into Google, but learning where different kinds of information live and how to reach them.
Beyond Google
Most writers need more than ordinary search results.
Search engines are useful, but they do not always answer the kind of layered questions writers ask. Sometimes the missing detail is a line of dialogue, a historical reference, a professional habit, a specialist term or the experience of someone who knows the subject from the inside.
The useful material is often there. The challenge is knowing which tool, directory, archive or community is best suited to the question you are asking.
Where to Look
Different research questions need different routes in.
- Directories Directories let you move through subject areas more like a library shelf, drilling down from broad categories to useful sources instead of relying only on keyword matches.
- Groups and discussions Online groups can lead to background knowledge, specialist conversations and sometimes real people who can share lived or professional experience.
- Specialist sources Archives, reference pages, forums, link collections and subject-specific databases can reveal material that would otherwise remain buried beneath standard search results.
Internet Search FAQ
A practical guide to finding better information online.
Charles Harris collected his discoveries and methods in the Internet Search FAQ, a guide originally developed for writers and now useful for anyone who wants to search the web more intelligently.
Awards
Recognition for the Internet Search FAQ.
- The Control Voice “You’re Neat Award” Recognition for the usefulness and originality of the Internet Search FAQ.
- Britannica Internet Guide Award Award recognition connected with the Internet Search FAQ and its online research guidance.
Keep reading
Go deeper into online research, writing craft and resources.
Continue with the Internet Search FAQ or explore more of Charles Harris’s writing resources for screenwriters, novelists and researchers.