The following is a brief primer on online information retrieval...

 The internet is VAST. But, it is the place to be if you want to communicate internationally, and if you want to find information. Google,
 the most popular internet search engine contains over 4,000,000,000 pages. That's a lot! Yahoo undoubtedly has about as many. So, together
 these two internet search engines catalog over 8,000,000,000 pages. A mind-boggling number, made all the more unreal as a substantional 
 number of quality internet pages may not be listed in either Google, or Yahoo. Or they might be listed in one search engine, and not the
 other. And we have not even begun to discuss valuable internet directories such as DMOZ, AOLFind, AskJeeves, Alta-Vista,
 LookSmart,and on, and on, and on.

 With as many as 8,000,000,000 billion pages to sift through, a documents search should reveal valuable information every time. So, for 
 the amateur or professional investigator the internet is a good place to start. As there is a mother-lode of information available right 
 at your fingertips.

 Despite the advantage of the free information that is available online. There might be a couple of major problems for any individual or
 investigative service that is doing a precursory documents search. There are the dual problems of available time. And where exactly 
 to search for information.

 The problem is similar to that faced by professional fishermen. It goes without saying that world's oceans are full of fish of every 
 conceivable description. Large, small, surface dwelling, or deep-ocean dwelling. And of course, there are mammals, out there as well. 
 Dolphins and whales. Not to mention the cephalopds such as squid and octopi. So for the professional fisherman on the hunt, the key 
 factor is "location." In other words, the advantage is in knowing exactly where to go, to get what you want. Time is money, is the old 
 saying. And nothing is different on that point, in today's world.

 For those who are doing a documents search, the key - if you want to save time - is knowing exactly where to go to locate the type of
 information you are looking for. Google is different than Yahoo. AOLFind is different from DMOZ. AskJeeves is different than 
 Alta-Vista.

 You get the picture.

 Now that we've gotten beyond the basics of online documents search. Hey, it's obvious if you're looking for information, to try a search
 engine or internet directory. But what if you're looking for more specific information of let's say a very personal nature. IF your internet
 records search consists of finding out an unlisted phone number, former address, a birth record, then maybe a search engine or internet 
 directory is an inefficient means of trying to retrieve such specific type of information. The information might be there, but it's usually
 a hit-or-miss proposition.

 Professional fishermen would never succeed if they operated that way. The four oceans are just too large to wander about haplessly
 hoping to hit pay-dirt. Well neither will the individual who's doing an internet records search succeed if if a search engine or internet 
 directory are the first and last options. They are just not specific enough to the task at hand.

 There are places to go to find street addresses and phone numbers if that's all that you're looking for. Examples such as WhoWhere.
 -- But wait, don't leave. We're going to let you in on a little secret. There are dozens of places online that will charge you money for 
 each and every nugget of information that you seek. And those charges can really add up. Doing a search that way is inefficient  as, 
 well. Not to mention, expensive.

 Remember what we told you about in the beginning. You need to know where to go to find the specific type of information that you need.
 Take a look at the following list of items an internet investigator such as yourself might need to find:
 *birth records *arrest reports *rental history *criminal background checks *sex offender files
 *unlisted phone numbers *judicial judgements *trial transcripts *school records *court orders 
 *driving records *email addresses *tax liens *evictions *motor vehicle records *reverse look-up

 You will never find all of that kind of disparate information in one-place. Google is a wonderful search engine, but it isn't that good! 
 So, if you're going to do a good background check for example, you're probalby going to have to consult serveral different online resources. 
 In other words you're going to have to consult the kind of database specific to the information that you're looking for. Some of this 
 information is freely available in public databases. Other types of information may only be accessed after payment of a small fee.
 But, you've won the battle because you're not wasting time searching in the wrong places, or dealing with companies who want payment
 but still can't give you access to what you're looking for.

 Okay, the hard part's done with. If you're an amateur sleuth now you realize that search engines aren't necessarily the best place
 to look for sensitive personal or private information. You may never find that kind of information in a search engine or internet directory. 
 { especially if the individual or corporate entity you're researching online is obscure or unknown to the general public } You need to go to 
 an information database specific to the type of information you're seeking. This is known as having a game plan.

 How do you formulate a game plan for doing an online records search? It's easy. You simply consult and then you act. In other words,
 you MUST have an idea of ALL the kinds of specific information you need that will fulfill you requirements.  And secondarily, you then 
 need to know where to go to retrieve the type of information you are seeking. 

 That's it. Do these two things, and you're researching information just like a professional internet investigator.

 We hope you've enjoyed this little primer about online documents search. { aka, information retrieval } It's really very basic, Just a
 little something to point you in the right direction. But, if you're really game. Why don't you browse the following pages...

 If you want to become an amateur sleuth the fun is just beginning! ;-)

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