Find Anything Toolkit

The Internet is a helpful resource for doing background research about a topic, and can lead to answers (or articles and reports where research has already been conducted on the topic). Once a well-thought-out question  is formulated, the key to finding useful information online is knowing how to refine an Internet search.

For example, you may be looking for FTA rules and regulations about buses. If you simply type “bus” into Google, you will retrieve over a billion results, many that that aren’t useful. To find relevant answers, employ the following search tip:

To search for government information, use the following search: 

bus site:gov will search all .gov (government) sites for the word “bus” - this search will retrieve bus rules and regulations from FTA and other sites, such as FMCSA, FHWA, etc.)

To search only the FTA website, use bus AND (rules OR regulations) site:transit.dot.gov to search FTA rules and regulations for buses.

Use any part of a website URL that may be helpful to your search: .com (commercial, business sites if you want information from vendors or commercial transit organizations), .org (associations or non-profits often contain very trustworthy information), .edu (educational institutions), or any specific URL, such as “nationalrtap.org” to search that specific site.

You can also search Google to retrieve results where your search terms appear in the title of a webpage:

allintitle: paratransit eligibility application will retrieve application information from various agencies for paratransit eligibility.

Two basic search tips that can always be applied are:
 

Simplify—the fewer and more direct words in a search, the better the results. For example: Instead of, “Which federal grants apply to bus operators?” better searches would be:

• transit rural 5311
• transit grant funding

Continue to refine and remove terms that will narrow the results if the first search is too broad.

For specific search tips based on popular search engines, visit:

Google’s Basic Search Tips
Yahoo’s Search Tips
Bing’s Search Tips

Don't feel that you need to limit yourself to the most popular search engines. Performing a search in multiple search engines will probably yield different results and possibly some hidden gems. Try these:

Ask

DogPile

DuckDuckGo

Earth-Scout

HathiTrust Digital Library

Lens (searches scholarly works)

OneSearch

State DOT Google Search Engine

Swisscows

US Government Search Engine

While Internet search engines are useful for performing broad searches, they only search a small part of the Internet. They also do not search databases within websites, such as National RTAP’s Resource Library—which you have to visit the National RTAP website to search.

Artificial intelligence (AI) search tools have come into the mainstream in recent years, including, but not limited to Chat GPT, Google AI, and Perplexity.  Searchers are advised to use these as an adjunct to authoritative sources and not depend only on AI search tools.  AI search summaries are known to contain "hallucinations" - incorrect or even nonsensical search results.

You can also search individual transportation journals, which are often peer-reviewed and may have open access (free) full-text articles. Kendra Levine of the Institute of Transportation Studies Berkeley published this spreadsheet so users have access to over 100 quality transportation journals, including information on their open access policies.

An information clearinghouse is any agency or organization that collects and distributes information, and is a go-to place for information assistance. These clearinghouses are also known as Information and Referral (I&R) organizations.  A library is a general information clearinghouse, and librarians (reference librarians in particular) can direct users to more specific resources. Here is a map of transportation libraries and some other places to get started:

Public Libraries: can find local, state, federal laws; books on best practices; articles in newspapers/journals; area-specific demographic information; and factual information. Public libraries are a good starting point for some searches. Ask if you can talk to a reference librarian.

State Department of Transportation (DOT) Libraries: contain training manuals and resources, technical specifications, journal articles, laws, best practices and rules, and may provide research assistance. Some State RTAPs also have libraries.

Transit Technical Assistance Organizations: provide training and technical assistance, industry best practices, and help locating information. National RTAP is an example of this type of clearinghouse. A group of librarians and knowledge managers form the National Transportation Knowledge Network (NTKN), offer LibGuides of carefully selected materials on various transportation topics.

Chambers of Commerce: information about local programs, directories, resources, services to help connect businesses to residents, and sometimes local grant money. 

Government Offices: laws, assistance, and possibly grants. Local government offices can include town or city halls, planning and finance departments, and town commissions and councils.

Human Service Organizations: (Red Cross, United Way, faith-based groups, etc.): can help with local needs, demographics, challenges, partnerships, and sometimes financial assistance.

Federal Agencies: Many federal agencies deal with transit in a direct or indirect way. For example, FTA, U.S. DOT, USDA, and FHWA all provide information, regulations, training, and other resources related to transit.  FTA's Technical Assistance (TA) Centers: NADTC, National RTAP, CCAM-TAC, N-CATT,  SUMC, and TWC can also offer assistance.

Suppose that a law that affects transportation has recently been updated and you need to know how it will impact your transit agency. 

1. Ask a question—“What has changed in the new law?” or “How will the new law affect my transit agency?”
2. Narrow the topic by thinking about where the information might be found. For example, was it a federal, state or local law? Determining what level of government enacted the law will help narrow down where to look; such as on a federal or state website, the Federal Register, and in the appropriate U.S. or State law. 
3. Do a broad Internet keyword search to find some preliminary information about new law. If you know the exact law number (such as 49 U.S. Code 5310), search for that directly.
4. Contact the appropriate government agency or organization that provides best practices and technical assistance in that subject area, or contact a local public library or State DOT library for help. When calling, ask for reference assistance. 
5. Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) Literature Searches and Literature Reviews for Transportation Research Projects is a useful resource that addresses the steps for producing a high-quality literature review for a transportation research project. The circular explores how to conduct literature searches; where to search for transportation information; how to put it all together as a quality literature review; and what the definitions are for related terms.

Updated January 17, 2025