In chapter 1 of Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog, author William Badke introduces us to the information fog which begins with oral tradition and develops straight through to the World Wide Web. Aside from the information and how we access it changing, one of the things that remains a constant is the idea of gatekeeping. Gatekeeping is basically the process through which information is filtered for all forms of communication. For example, Badke wrote of gatekeeping in determining what was published in the early ages of the printing press and even gatekeeping on a daily basis when we do our internet searches. Although gatekeeping is used as a quality check it can be seen as very subjective in nature.

In continuing with the gatekeeping idea, chapter 8 teaches us how to read for research. This not only means getting the research material but it involves reading it, evaluating it for substance and actually engaging with it. Badke helps this process by laying out several note taking tips that assist in researching and avoiding plagiarism.