Writer’s have to research; that’s a given. Some writers like it, some don’t. Regardless…well, see sentence one; we don’t have much choice.

Research implies taking notes and gathering information. Notes, imply recording less than the entire article. Gathering information usually means, ta da, searching for and finding “stuff” on the internet.

I’ve discovered, EverNote a tool that will make your internet research a whole bunch easier. EverNote is free.  It allows you to capture information—I’m talkin’ things as small as a word or a sentence–from the web, and store it online in your EverNote “NoteBook”—complete with trackback URL.  Very cool.

I’ve had an account for a month and no spam, no follow-up, no courtesy calls, nothing. Silenceo.  You simply sign-up with a password and email addy.  EverNote sends you access authorization via the email addy you provided.  Bingo, you’re in. 

If you’re a Firefox user, there’s a plug-in to facilitate easy EverNote use.  IE folks add an EverNote link to the Favorites tab, or Links bar.  Simple instructions for doing this are on the site.  Once done, you’re not only in, you’re now set up and ready to EverRoll. 

Sounds nice, Galen, but really, how can EverNote be helpful?—be specific, please. 

Okay.  For me, the answer is clearly research, so, let’s continue with that theme.  I’ll illustrate with a short example. 

Assume I’m researching…oh…Amelia Earhart. (Clever way to get a link, huh?)  I start my research as normal by accessing my favorite search engine.  I type in a search phrase designed to return web pages with information relating to my query.  Let’s say I typed in, “Amelia Earhart last flight.”

I’ll select the first one actually returned by Google:  America’s Library.  On that page, I find hot research information I just gotta have.  This information is so good it will win me a Noble, Pulitzer, and the never ending admiration of my Mother-in-Law.  Gotta have it. 

Yes, I could bookmark it.  But, I only want a paragraph…and that paragraph is buried in the middle of three pages of text.  So, while a bookmark will return me to the page, it won’t isolate the key text.  It won’t remember what I found interesting, nor allow me to comment on it.  It’s the shotgun approach.  Let’s use a laser instead.  Here’s what you do…

• Highlight the “gotta have” text.
• Click on the EverNote link we added above.
• Up pops an EverNote window with the article’s title already captured, a box for tags…just like the kind you use in blogging, (means you can later search through lots of info in your notebook) a window showing your highlighted text, and a box where you can make comments or notations.
• Now you have some options. 
  • If you highlighted text before clicking the EverNote Link, the highlighted text will be what’s stored in your Evernote notebook—along with the other things we mentioned above.
  • If you didn’t highlight, type in your thoughts in the popup box and your notes are stored in the EverNote notebook.
  • In either case…
• Click the Done button on the popup box.
• EverNote stores the information you just told it to save in your notebook within your EverNote account.  That’s it.  Very simple.  Now, here’s the really good part…

Repeat the above sequence as desired for as many sites as needed.  Let’s say you found ten different sites with key data.  You dutifully stored each…either completely, or partially, in your notebook.  When you’ve collected the information you need check your EverNote notebook, and it’s all there.  Ten different entries, each with the data you specified, along with the tags and notes you made for each discrete entry.  Oh, yes, you can click on the thoughtfully provided link, and you’ll return to the exact page from whence the note was copied.

Inside your notebook, you can review, delete, or add to the collected information.  Compile what you want into your WIP, or note sheets, or however you use research info…and collect your Noble and Pulitzer.  Yes, even your Mother-in-Law’s admiration. 

Because it’s internet based, you can access your stored information from the library, the coffee shop, or anywhere the internet’s available.  You don’t even need your personal computer.  A nice bonus.  Tight, tidy, clean, compact, simple, and Free.  About as good as it gets!

EverNote will do much more, but for now, that’s enough to chew on.  There are training videos and tutorials on the site that cover all EverNote’s functions.  I encourage you to go there and  browse about.  You might want to create an account and try the above exercise, just to see how it works.   Reading about it is one thing, but there’s nothing like “hands on” to get the feel.  After all, you didn’t learn to drive by reading a book.   If you like EverNote, you’ll have a nice research tool.  If you don’t care for it, well, the cost was right and the time investment minimal. 

I like EverNote.  Hope you will too.  Thanks for stopping by.  Galen.