The information overload that comes with the internet has fooled many of us into believing we have access to everything and everything is easy to access. I have found that to be far from the truth! While a simple Google search can give you results quickly, if you need a very specific result, some tips and tricks will make your search much more effective and hopefully get you closer to the results you seek.
It is difficult (if not impossible) for Google to access items housed in online digital collections, but once you know of a collection, you want to search. It can be a useful tool. For example, I might start by searching:
"homestake mining company" union "south dakota" "digital collection" OR archive OR museum OR "special collection"
The results themselves might be great, but they can also be clues for other places to search. I am now aware of the South Dakota Historical Society, the South Dakota Historical Society Press, and South Dakota Public Broadcasting, all local collections I might want to explore further.
One of my favorite tricks is using Google to search notoriously difficult-to-search websites using the site: function. For example, I can search the South Dakota Public Broadcasting website for "homestake mining company" beyond what rose to the surface in my first broader search.
site:.sdpb.org "homestake mining company"
This brings those entries to the top of my search and focuses my results on what one local collection offers.
As a writer, it is your responsibility to consider issues of
I recommend using advanced search and limiters for more effective searching.
While public, these may not be digitized, available online, easy to access, or free. Some of these records will be available through aggregators like Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com (both paid subscriptions, although if you're lucky, your library may provide some access). Oftentimes, such records need to be requested from the agency holding the record. While some of these agencies have a web presence, you may need to call or travel to access such records. You may need to file a FOIA request if these are not your records.
People have been turning to generative AI tools like ChatGPT for a wide range of tasks. However, it is essential to understand how these tools work and what a writer might be giving up by using them. It can be remarkable, yes. In fact, it sometimes feels like magic. They are not magic; however, they are large language models (LLMs) that were fed on much of the internet. These probability machines make statistically informed guesses of what word is likely to follow another. They are also data hungry and, unless the user changes their settings, will feed their writing back into the LLM to be used for future training. This explanation is not intended to discourage writers from using them, but to help them understand what they can and cannot do, and what they are "paying" for these free tools.
When finding resources, you will want to organize them so you can locate them again and credit the creators. You need a system that works for you—that is the most important criterion! Nowadays, that can be as complicated as an expensive writing software program or as simple as a dedicated physical notebook and some file folders.
