Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Introduction: How you can harness the power of online research - why you should improve your online researching skills -- 2. Finding a mysterious location somewhere in the world : how to use multiple information sources to zero in on a resource -- 3. Do lakes in Africa sometimes explode? : how to focus your search with "site:" and using specialized terms -- 4. Things you notice while traveling : how and when to switch search modes to find information -- 5. Is that plant poisonous or not? : how to find highly localized and domain-specific information -- 6. What's the most likely way you'll die? : how to be explicit about what you're searching to find (and why that matters) -- 7. When would you want to read the Italian Wikipedia? : how to look for information from other languages in Wikipedia and other sources -- 8. Why are the coasts so different? : how to use online maps resources to answer broad geographic questions -- 9. Mysterious mission stars : how to read snippets in the search results and pay attention to search details -- 10. When was oil first discovered in California? : how to discover and work through multiple competing claims in online resources -- 11. Can you die from apoplexy or rose catarrh? : how to find (and use) old, sometimes-archaic or obsolete terminology -- 12. What's that wreck just offshore? : how to find archival imagery and use metadata from photographs -- 13. Do flies have the pattern of a spider on their wings? : How to check the credibility of a resource you've found -- 14. What's the connection between "The star-spangled banner" and the general who burned the White House? : how to search for vaguely remembered connections between ideas -- 15. What causes the barren zones around some plants? : how to know when you should go offline and do research in the real world -- 16. Is Abyssinia the same as Eritrea? : how to find additional context information for your research -- 17. The mystery of the parrotfish, or Where does that white sand really come from? : how to triangulate multiple sources to find a definitive answer -- 18. Did Perry ever visit the island of Delos? : how to follow a long chain of references to the ultimate answer -- 19. On being a great searcher : rules of thumb for asking great questions -- 20. The future of online search : why the research skills you learn today will continue to be useful in the future.