Conducting Electronic Research

Blogs--short for Weblogs--are online journals that are updated by their authors on a regular, often daily, basis. They consist of chronologically ordered entries and, except for being shared with the public; they closely resemble a personal diary or journal. Typically, they include a title and a text message, but they can also include images, audio, video and other types of media. Many entries include links to other Web pages as well.

Many Blogs are specialized into subject matter or thematic categories; some are even instructional. Depending on the author's credentials and intent, these types of Web sites can often be useful sources for first-hand accounts, commentary and specialized information relevant to the issues or topics they address.

A number of search sites have been developed that concentrate specifically on searching the Blogosphere, as it has come to be known. Search engines like Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search and Ask.com are good starting points to begin looking for them, but here is a short list you may want to bookmark:

• Blogarama
• Blogwise
• Bloogz
• Fagan Finder Blogs
• Feedster
• Globe of Blogs
• Google Blog Search

View a demonstration of a blog search using Google