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Courses >
Course Schedule
Research Tools and Techniques:
Refining Your Online and Offline Searches
What to do when you're told, "Find out about this!"
Real world
research skills
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This course helps anyone responsible for research at any Washington-area organization, whether an agency, association, business, elected official or nonprofit.
It is designed for anyone who wants to improve their
online and offline searches.
A recent survey by Convera found:
- A
commanding 95 percent of professionals find
Internet search engines an aid for
conducting work, yet only 40 percent say
they are very satisfied with the results
- Less than 25 percent of professionals are very confident that when using popular Internet search engines they’ve looked everywhere to find answers
- Businesses pay employees to hunt for information that can’t
be found and make decisions without all the
facts.
- More than 60 percent disclosed they do not ask for help when lost, while 80 percent said they have never been trained to use the advanced search feature.
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Are you among the 80 percent who haven’t received research skills training? Our faculty
have a minimum of 15 years' experience in performing research in Washington.
You'll
gain:
- An overview of online searching, telephone and email research
- A review of legislative, judicial, regulatory, factual and international research
- A review of public and private information sources
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Research is a
fundamental job requirement of many jobs in
Washington, DC, and
our research skills courses
can help you perform this work more efficiently and more
effectively, contributing to better job reviews
and promotion possibilities. |
 You will have a "hands-on" opportunity to follow our faculty and navigate the Internet with one of our laptop computers
(first 20 registrants to sign in at program). Or, bring your own Wi-Fi equipped laptop and take advantage of our
Portable Wi-Fi ClassroomTM
to enhance your learning.
We use
Asus eee PC 1000HE's in our
Portable WiFi ClassroomTM.
The leadership competencies for this course include:
- Technology Management
- External Awareness
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Bring this course to your
site.
This course and any combination of its
topics are available as
custom on-site training for
your organization. We have tailored this course for federal agencies, law firms, and Fortune 500 companies. For
more information about how this training can help your
members and staff, please contact
our client liaison. |
Space is limited.
If you get a
"Wait List Only" message when registering, please select
the next available date.
Click this link to add this program to your Google calendar (opens current month in new window or tab).
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Course materials include
the Training Edition of "Real World Research Skills
Second Edition: An Introduction to Factual, International, Judicial, Legislative, and Regulatory Research,"
by Peggy Garvin
"Peggy Garvin is the 'go-to' Washington expert on how to effectively locate, evaluate and leverage information from federal and state government websites."
-- Sabrina I. Pacifici,
Founder, Editor, Publisher, LLRX.com and Author of the blog on law and technology news, beSpacific.com
"It
includes important basics - how to think before you
begin your research; how to work on unfamiliar topics;
what to search and how to evaluate the results - which
are not always included in books of this type."
-- Kee Malesky,
NPR Reference Library |
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Agenda |
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Research Skills for the Real World |
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9:00 am to 4:00 pm
(lunch on your own at 12:30 pm) |
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Search Techniques: Refining Your Online and Offline Searches
- Why go beyond Google?
- What are Google and other search engines good for?
- Keys to finding and selecting resources beyond Google
- Online search tips: Searching on a topic - synonyms, variations; Applying
filters - carefully - to increase precision
- Selected resources
- Improving Your Search IQ
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Federal Legislative Sources
- Brief review of how a bill becomes a law and the primary
documents generated along the way
- Demonstration of Primary Sources: THOMAS, GPO Access, and more
- Review sources for Bill Summary and Status, Full Text of Bills,
Congressional Record, Committee Information
- Review sources for Public Laws, Statutes at Large, US Code
- The importance of knowing a database's contents
- Tips on using specific terms, alternative terms, and applying
filters
- When to use people resources
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Courts and Judicial Sources
- Demonstration of Primary Sources and discussion of commercial
resources
- Limitations of free Web resources for legal research
- Legal research vs. retrieving legal documents
- Field searching, pearl searching, citation searching
- Review Primary legal documents; legal research terminology; the
structure of a decision; how to cite
- Supreme Court documents and procedures
- Email alert services
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Federal Agencies, Administrative and Regulatory
Sources
- The regulatory process and corresponding documents
- Finding the best tools within the agencies
- Demonstration of Primary Sources: The Federal Register, the CFR and more, and how
to cite
- Administrative Law: review documents agencies generate, as well as
information agencies require and make public
- OMB
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Identifying Information Sources
- How private research sources differ from government research
sources
- Value-added, specialized, editorial, copyright
- Tapping into information from think tanks, policy shops, trade
associations, libraries, specialty press, state
government
- Locating international organizations on the web and where to start your
research
People Interviewing Tips
- Do your homework first
- Email vs phone
- Who can you call? What can you expect?
- Respecting your sources
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Review of Online Search Tips, and Q&A
- Research is a process
- Learn from the first search; try again
- Review results skeptically--remember Jason Blair
- Get a second source
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If you get a "Wait List Only"
message when registering, please select the next available
date.
This is a sample agenda: the
actual topics may differ slightly.
For a printable course description, agenda with dates, and registration form, click here.
PDF 
This course is also available
as
a custom program.
Do
you need a training
course we don't offer or coverage of
an additional topic in this course?
If you have suggestions for courses or topics you would like to see us offer, please contact us or complete our
online suggestion form.
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Suggested
Prerequisites |
None.
If
you need help deciding which courses you should take based
on your work experience or training, please contact
us via email
or phone: 703-739-3790.
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Rave
Reviews |
"[This program will]
help me manage the massive amounts of info that I receive by giving me tools to be more efficient. Exposed me to resources that I didn't know about and gave me
lots of ideas on how to be more efficient and better organized. I will always come back to TheCapitol.Net and encourage my colleagues to do so."
-- Senior Policy Associate, National Recreation and Park Association
"Provides additional avenues to information and
new ways to use the web more effectively."
-- Research Analyst, National Marine Manufacturers Association
"I learned some really
great techniques and tips today."
-- Public Policy Manger, United Health Care
See
more
testimonials about this course.
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Time
and Dates |
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
-
W, December 15,
2010
-
W, December 14,
2011
If you get a "Wait List
Only" message when registering, please select the next
available date.
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Location |
December 15, 2010:
Location in Washington, DC will be
announced before course.
Other dates: Location
in Washington, DC will be announced
before course.
Our courses are held at these
Washington, DC, locations.
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Course
Materials |
Course materials include
the Training Edition of "Real World Research Skills
Second Edition: An Introduction to Factual, International, Judicial, Legislative, and Regulatory Research,"
by Peggy Garvin
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Tuition |
$395
If you get a
"Wait List Only" message when registering, please
select the next available date.
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Discounts |
When 4 people from the same
organization register and pay together, the 4th person is
free. When 8 people from the same organization register and
pay together, the 4th and 8th persons are both free. See complete
details here.
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Certificate of
Training
and
CEUs
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A Certificate of
Training is available for this
course.
To get a
Certificate of
Training,
your registration fee must be paid in full, and you
must attend the entire course.
 This course is
approved for .6
CEUs from George Mason University.
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Policies |
For this course, substitutions, cancellations, and transfers must be submitted in writing to us. Our transfer and cancellation fees are outlined below.
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Transfer and Cancellation Fee |
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Time Before Course |
Substitutions Allowed |
Transfer Fee |
Cancellation Fee |
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More than 4 weeks |
Yes, in writing |
None |
None |
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2 to 4 weeks |
Yes, in writing |
25% of tuition |
50% of tuition |
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3 days to 2 weeks |
Yes, in writing |
50% of tuition |
75% of tuition |
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1 to 2 days |
Yes, in writing |
75% of tuition |
100% of tuition |
day of program
(no refunds to no-shows) |
Yes, in writing |
100% of tuition |
100% of tuition |
No refunds for no shows. We reserve the right to
change this fee and time period.
TCN
reserves the right to cancel any course in the event of
insufficient registrations.
All statements and
discussion at all of our courses, workshops and seminars, public and custom,
are off the record and not for attribution, unless specified otherwise.
The resulting confidentiality ensures a frank and
free exchange of views.
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FAQs |
FAQs
about our training
including suggested attire.
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Register
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Payment methods we accept include checks, EFT/ACH, and Intuit Payment Network (IPN).
If you get a
"Wait List Only" message when registering, please
select the next available date.
For a printable course description, agenda with dates, and registration form, click here.
PDF
Fax or Mail: Print
out and complete the registration
form
(in Adobe pdf). The completed form should
include your method of payment.
Fax the completed form to us at
703-739-1195.
Mail the completed form to us at
TheCapitol.Net, Inc., PO Box 25706, Alexandria, VA
22313-5706
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Related
Training |
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Related Resources |
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Educational Tracks |
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Available as custom, on-site training? |
Yes.
This
program can be tailored
for on-site agency, association and corporate training.
Please call 703-739-3790 for information.
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Need
more information? |
Phone:
703-739-3790
Email: registrar -at- TheCapitol.Net
Complete our
online information request.
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Non-Partisan |
TheCapitol.Net is a
non-partisan firm, and the opinions of its faculty,
authors, clients and the owners and operators of its vendors are
their own and do not represent those of TheCapitol.Net.
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URLs: www.thecapitol.net/PublicPrograms/researchskills.html
DCResearchSkills.com
WashingtonResearchSkills.com
TCNRT.com
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Last updated:
September 02, 2010
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