Find It Fast: Extracting Expert Information from Social Networks, Big Data, Tweets, and More

By Robert Berkman

Go beyond Google to mine big data and social media

Author Robert Berkman gives expert advice on how to search the internet to locate the best information sources, how to find and utilize the professionals behind those sources, and how to combine these techniques to complete an information search on any subject. This fully updated 6th edition includes how to search beyond Google, leveraging big data in the search process, and how to search the social web. Readers will also find expert advice on how to know if a site is a trusted source; understanding how and why sources differ; using precision search strategies and taming information overload; and finding, evaluating, and identifying experts. Whether it's consumer advice, information for a job or project, facts for starting a new business, or answers to questions on obscure topics, Find It Fast is the perfect resource for learning to hone one's internet searching skills.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Information Today, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781937290092

Reviews for Find It Fast

[marleen_cloutier-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received the 6th edition as an early reviewer copy. I wish I had this when I was working on my Masters Degree. Having a concise list of credible web and print research sources is an excellent feature and I'm glad that Berkman started with that as the first chapter. Well written and very helpful. It would be a really good resource for a new student beginning to learn to do research or someone looking for new ways to find research sources that aren't exclusively from Google, including advice about talking with experts and ways of using social media as a source.

[lbmillar_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very informative book. This book would be a useful reference for anyone doing research whether scholarly, business or personal. It covers sources of information, how to formulate searches and how to judge the credibility of results.

[davidpwhelan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Find It Fast is an updated version of a book that was last published in 2000. Times have changed and the 6th edition reflects the mid-2015 state of online research. It is light on specific research sources but identifies both a selection of high quality resources and spends much of its time discussing how to do the research.I was expecting a lot more links and specific resources and this did not meet those expectations. However, it's an excellent book for high school students and public librarians who are either trying to learn how to research or need to research in an area that they may not be familiar with. In particular the sections on Super Sources (Chapter 1) and analyzing credibility and authenticity (Chapter 5) were very good.The author focused on highly stable resources, which means this book will have a long shelf life (although Topsy.com is already gone, which may make part of the social media section a bit harder to try out). The tips for searching are also good and a beginning researcher will find the book to be an overall useful reference tool.

[zimbawilson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Terrific list of resources both online and in print. Today when you think you can find virtually anything just by 'Googling' a few words, it's great to have a resource like Find It Fast because Google (while amazing) isn't always the answer. This book reminds us that information is everywhere, but finding what you are really looking for requires the knowlege of both where and how to look.

[jbealy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is an invaluable tool in any researcher's arsenal of tools. From libraries to big data to super sources to social media, no stone is left unturned. While mostly focused on sources within the United States, Berkman also offers some international resources and, certainly, after even just perusing this books, readers should be well equipped in understanding how to locate country specific sources relevant to whatever they're searching. Highly recommend.

[thebookpile · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm a Systems Librarian, but for a 6-month period in 2015 I temporarily managed the research team in my library. It was around the end of this period that this new edition of Find It Fast came across my desk and I can assure you that the resources listed in this book -- many of with which I wasn't familiar before managing the research team -- are valuable, reliable, and indispensable.I was a little apprehensive after reading acknowledgements at the front of the book and discovering that the previous edition was released in the year 2000, well before many new online research tools and platforms became available. I worried, for instance, that the author would have a bias towards print and dismiss research in social media. Or that he would take the opposite tack and obsess over online tools at the expense of print resources, which can sometimes provide information that you just won't find elsewhere.I'm to say that the author remains agnostic about sources of information and defends the importance of libraries just as much as he defends the importance of Twitter. Where you get the information isn't as important as uncovering it, making sure it is authoritative, and taking into consideration any biases of the source -- all topics which are covered very well in this book.If I have one complaint it is that the URLs for the sources mentioned are only listed at the end of the chapter in which they're mentioned, and not alongside their description in the text. Many times, this has actually proven useful because I just want to scan through the list of URLs to find what I'm looking for. At other times, however, I found myself reading source descriptions and having to constantly having to flip to the end of the chapter to get the URL to go have a look for myself.If you do research, particularly if you're new to research as I was, I would definitely recommend this book.

[bookwallah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good asset for researchers needing to identify sources beyond their normal favorites. Cover both online and offline library resources that should be available most places. Recommended reference book for anyone embarking on a research project where they need a little extra help to get started.

[jaron_thebookbaron · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great tricks and tips for people wanting to get more out of their internet searches.
As a reference librarian I found it extremely helpful, particularly in the area of social media navigation.

[bsiemens_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a hard one for me to review. When I started, I thought my occupation would require a ton of reference work, but I took a hard left. I did not read every word—it is a reference book—but I read enough to be impressed with the exhaustive (exhausting?) amount of information. This will stay on my shelf—pretty high praise. When I'm not sure how to find something, it will be my go-to reference.