so you lost your google, now what?

(If the following was true, the world would be ending.)
Of course Google will be missed. But, do you really miss the old America Online? Sort of. Many of AOL’s best features have grown and matured into even better tools.

So, you’ll miss Google because it’s fast and delivers immediate response, the (almost) instant gratification we’ve come to rely on for information.

But, we researched without using such a tool as Google for years. What you’ve likely learned from using Google is that research takes a starting point or a starting question. That’s the same concept you were likely taught in grade school.

• What do you want to know?
  
• What kinds of people, places or things would be able to get you going in the right direction?
  
• Who would have the information you’re after?
  
• Who would be considered an expert on the subject?

Answer those questions broadly, and you’ll have your launch pad.

Where you’ll end up missing Google is in seeking the random or strange or obscure information that’s unlikely to be kept in a catalog or database: information on a product or a gadget whose name you don’t know to perform a specific function, sports scores, ticket information and so on.

So now what? You’ll need to learn how to use the other research tools and what each one of them can do for you.

You’ll learn to ask more questions before you dive right in and rely on the instant results of Google. Your research skills will become sharper as a result of having to pre-research.

Don’t worry. Google won’t go away entirely just yet: the company’s proprietary technology still powers many of the websites you love to search – many federal government sites and corporation websites used Google technology to index and search their databases.