"GATEWAY" APPROACH TO WEB RESEARCH

The "gateway" approach to web research involves use of existing known sites with links to relevant topics or documents as an entry point for research.

WHEN SHOULD THE GATEWAY APPROACH BE USED?
• Gateway approach works best when some information about the topic is already known-- e.g., decision from a specific state commission, piece of state legislation, a filing by a utility company or a government report.
• Gateway approach is a quick way to obtain an overview of a particular area without running and subsequently sorting the results of a search engine.
• Gateway approach works best when there's already an existing collection of links to the topic of research--as provided earlier in this presentation. See "List of Energy Related Sites"

SAMPLE SEARCH: Overview on Retail Competition
• To obtain information on retail competition state to state, go to following sites:
• www.energyonline.com(restructuring blueprints
• www.sel.com/retail.html(state by state summaries)
• www.erols.com/naruc/stateweb.htm (state PUC sites, which will have PUC decisions and legislation)
• By contrast, an AltaVista search of "retail competition" would generate 3130 terms.