The Internet Handbook for Writers, Researchers, and Journalists

Sarah Robertson is the trade, scholarly, and reference editor of the
Canadian Book Review Annual.

This book is intended to show writers, researchers, and journalists
(and, title notwithstanding, editors and students as well) “how to use
the Internet efficiently as a research tool.” Although aimed primarily
at newcomers to the Internet, the handbook will also prove helpful to
established users who would like to fine-tune their electronic research
skills.

The book begins with a general introduction to the Net. Subsequent
chapters deal with procedures for getting online, the mechanics of Web
browsers and the World Wide Web, search strategies and techniques,
Internet research sources, the management of online resources, and the
creation of Web pages. In addition to the main text, which is
supplemented by tables, sidebars, boxed inserts, and illustrative
computer screens, there are a glossary and four appendices (particularly
welcome is the one comprising selected lists of professional, Internet,
and general-interest resources).

The authors’ evaluation of content on the information highway does
not extend beyond their suggestion that it “has been neglected in
favor of technical development.” For those dismayed by current
cyberspace fare, they offer the consoling observation that “the focus
is beginning to shift from laying the tarmac to sprucing up the
destinations.”

The Internet Handbook is a solid, in-depth resource that merits future
revisions.