This page was compiled for the TechNation panel at SleuthFest.  Below are the links mentioned during the panel presentation regarding using the Internet to research for your book.  If you have any questions or comments, please email me by clicking on my picture.  Thanks visiting my Research page.

TechNation
Using technology to research

 Creating characters

View the credit roll of any DVD or VHS motion picture for    hundreds of names to use to name your characters.

Internet Movie Database (contains the cast and crew names for most movies)

                        http://imdb.com/

            Fantasy Name Generator

                        http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/

            Name Generator

                        http://rumandmonkey.com/widgets/toys/namegen/

                        http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/

                        http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm (new)

            Tech company name generator (use to create a business name in your book)

                        http://www.lightsphere.com/dev/web20.html

Creating your character's background and bio information

             Using obituary to find bio material

                        http://www.obitcentral.com/

    University departments list faculty members and their bios

    Corporate and business websites also list officers and bios

Creating a sense of place and environment

             Reality Dot Com (virtual tours show inside and outside of houses)

                        http://www.realty.com/

            Google Earth (see surrounding location to determine terrain)  New Feature: Street View! View 360-degrees of many locations.

                        http://earth.google.com/

            Google Maps (find street and landmark names to enhance story)

   http://maps.google.com/maps

            Walking tours (thousands of diaries on locations)

   Search Google for "walking tours"

            Travel sites

                        http://www.usatourist.com/english/destinations/Destinations-Main.html

Getting profession and expert help

            University departments

  Corporate business websites

 

 Google tips

 In Internet Explorer or Firefox, highlight any word in the text of the webpage, right click and choose Google search

            Dictionary

            To define a word, type  define: theword in the search window

             Currency Conversion

            Enter the conversion you'd like done into the Google search box and hit "Enter" or click the Google Search button.  Such as 3.5 USD in GBP

             Images

            Type in a location like Rome and click on "images".

             Q&A

            Ask a fact-based question such as: Population of Japan.

Useful Links

            Military terms defined by Amy Fetzer (NEW)

                        http://www.amyjfetzer.com/jargon.html

            Wikipedia (Open source online encyclopedia)

                        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

           Sphere Blog Search

                       http://www.sphere.com/

            Bureau of Justice Statistics (Government stats on crime)

                        http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/

            The World Factbook (CIA facts covering every country)

                        https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

            First Government (US Government search site)

                        http://www.usa.gov/

            Global Security (Latest news concerning terrorism and security)

                        http://www.globalsecurity.org/

            How Stuff Works (Explains how things work)

                        http://www.howstuffworks.com/

            News and Weather (Huge database covering everything)

                        http://factcheck.com/exitpage/NewsInformation.php

            Information Please (Giant database covering everything)

                        http://www.infoplease.com/

            Search Systems (38,500 Searchable Public Records)

                        http://www.searchsystems.net/

            Journalist Express (Thousands of newspapers and magazines)

                        http://journalistexpress.com/

            Essential Links (Giant database of current information)

                        http://www.el.com/

            Librarians Internet Index (Trusted database)

                        http://lii.org/

            Reference Desk (Thousands of links to information)

                        http://refdesk.com/

            Research Unlimited (Hidden treasure and historical books)

                        http://www.research-unlimited.com/

            iTools (Search various search sources)

                        http://www.itools.com/

            Online Newspapers (Search thousands of world newspapers)

                        http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/

            World Time Zones

                        http://www.worldtimezone.com/

           NEW: CoreIndex (List of worldwide businesses)

                        http://www.coreindex.com/

             Writers Resource Directory (Huge resource for writers)

                        http://www.carolkluz.homestead.com/index1.html

The Hidden Web (500 times larger than Internet) Remember that Google covers 8 billion pages

                        http://websearch.about.com/od/invisibleweb/a/invisible_web.htm

http://library.rider.edu/scholarly/rlackie/Invisible/Inv_Web.html

http://www.congoo.com/

Go to Joe Moore's home page

About Joe Moore

Joe Moore is a former marketing executive with 25 years experience in the television postproduction industry. As a senior audio engineer, he received two regional Emmy® awards for individual achievement in audio mixing for ABC and PBS television specials. He has written dozens of articles for national and international trade magazines covering the field of professional sound recording and video. In addition, as a freelance writer, he has reviewed fiction for the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, the Florida Times Union, and the Tampa Tribune.

Joe co-wrote with Lynn Sholes the international bestselling, suspense thriller The Grail Conspiracy. The Grail Conspiracy was named ForeWord Magazine's 2005 Mystery Book Of The Year and was a nominee for the Independent Publishers IPPY awards. To date, The Grail Conspiracy has been translated into 23 languages including Russian, Greek and Chinese.

The next thrillers in the Cotten Stone series are The Last Secret, The Hades Project, and The 731 Legacy.

Joe serves on the International Thriller Writers board of directors as Vice President, Technology. He is also the managing editor and director of the ITW Big Thrill website and monthly webzine.

Contact Joe at info@joe-moore.com