There is so much being written on the web, it can be overwhelming. Yet, one of the most important ways of finding something to write about is to find out what other people are writing about. This goes beyond news or most popular stories. It is the monitoring and reading of what other people are writing about to help inspire you to write.
Inspiration comes in many ways from reading. It begins by reading about what people are writing about in your industry. If they wrote it wonderfully, then you can cite them on your blog with a comment or two to encourage your readers to visit their site and read the article. If you want to talk about what they wrote, you can cite their post and include a blockquote or two from the article, and then say what you want to say. If you like what they wrote, but you think you can write it better, use their article as inspiration to write your own. Reading what other people also write helps you to keep up with what is going on around you, the trends and the news.
You never know where a bit of inspiration will come from, so keep your mind open to all possiblities. The following includes a wide range of resources for finding articles and archived articles. I’ve also included a list of some aggregators, sites that display content from other sites to help you keep track of what is going on through blog feeds. Some of these you can personalize and customize, while others are just lists to read through.
- Mag Portal for online magazines and research information
- Comment Content - part of Creative Commons
- LookSmart - Find Articles
- Bloglines (Aggregator/Feeds)
- FeedDemon (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Feedreader (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Findory (Aggregator/Feeds)
- NetNewsWire (Aggregator/Feeds - MAC)
- NewsGator (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Radio UserLand (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Crayon - Create Your Own Customizable Online Newspaper
- PR Web (Press Releases)
- US National Archives
- About.com - About Everything
- News Lab
- US News Archives - Newspaper Archives
- University of Toronto - Internet Resources and Metasites
- Ask a Librarian
- The Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database
- Librarian’s Internet Index
- The Gateway to 21st Century Skills in Education (US Gov)
- High Beam Library Research for News, Images, and Statistics
- H2O Playlist - Intellectual Content and Reading Lists
- Poynter Online - Journalist Links and Resources
- CyberJournalist Super Search Tools
- Power Reporting - Free Research Tools for Journalists
- PR News Wire
- News Trove - Search News by Viewpoint
- Yahoo Directory of RSS Formats and Aggregators
- Time Magazine Archives
- Bloghop - Connects Readers with Blogs
- Assignment Editor - Newsroom Home Page
- E-How - How Things Work
- How Stuff Works
- Journalism Net - Massive Research Resources and Links
- Internet Public Library
- National Press Club - Library and Research Links and Resources
- The Refdesk
- Bartleby References and Quotes
- Journalist Express - One Stop Links and Resources for Journalists
- Monitor This - Create Custom RSS Search Feeds
- Voice of the Shuttle
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