Chapter by Chapter Description of the Contents:

1. Getting Started. Begins to lay the foundation for research by focusing on the basics of hardware and software needed to work on the Internet, either with a modem over the telephone lines or by Local Area Network (LAN). Includes tips on computer phobia.

2. Choosing a Service Provider. Reviews many methods available to get Internet access, concentrating on ways you can decide which service is for you. Includes a checklist for deciding what you need and brings up questions to ask about Internet service providers while you are shopping.

3. Getting Ready for Research. Asking the right question is a large part of research design. Here we focus on carefully designing your research projects with the right thoughtful questions, and we introduce the idea of working efficiently both online and offline.

4. Internet Research Tools. This large chapter briefly introduces all the major Internet research tools, giving examples and resources for further information on each tool. Includes electronic mailing lists, USENET newsgroups, Gopher (Veronica, Jughead), FTP (Archie), Internet Relay Chat, the World Wide Web, and other research tools on the Net.

5. Keeping up with the Internet with FTP. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the focus of this chapter. The beginner's examples show you how it's done, allowing you to begin downloading research software and data from thousands of public sites and their "mirror sites" throughout the world.

6. What is the Internet? This chapter reviews the history of the Internet from the point of view of original Internet users and compares how researchers use the Net today.

7. Netiquette. Worried about decorum and unusual Internet customs? Here we inoculate the reader against the most common newbie pitfalls and show you how to learn the local Internet customs before you make a blunder.

8. Focusing Your Aims. This chapter shows you how to organize your work with special software tools for outlining, gives you pointers on how to carefully control "information glut" by organizing the information on your hard drive, and gives methods to work offline more efficiently.

9. Libraries on the Internet. This chapter shows you several major library resources on the Net, and guides the reader to many other library-related resources.

10. Stops Signs on the Infobahn. We cover legal issues of and about copyright, plagiarism, defamation, confidentiality and "indentity hacking" in this chapter.

11. The E-mail Interview. Here we demonstrate the best ways to do research interviews over the Internet with electronic mail.

12. Finding the Right Information with Gopher. There are thousands of Gopher sites. This chapter shows the reader how to find the best Gopher sites using Veronica, and focuses on information sources organized by subject matter areas.

13. Researching on the World Wide Web. This chapter explains how to use World Wide Web resource collections, indexes, and search engines to find your research targets, and shows you how to find more of these "searching" resources whenever you want to.

14. Government Resources on the Net. This chapter provides the reader with government access and government information on the Internet, including North American federal, state and provincial governments; and national government Internet links throughout the world.

15. The Net for Everyone. Here we think about the future of the Internet, including expected software developments.

Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997