Use Google More Effectively

   
 

Basic searches

Below are six tips to help with basic searches.

  1. Use the most relevant search terms first. A search for history Washington will return different hits from Washington history.
  2. Be specific with terms and try to isolate key words.
    Good search: women work World War II
    Weak search: change in women’s roles in workplace during and after World War II
  3. To use AND NOT in a search, put a –(minus sign) before the term. For example: Washington history –george
  4. To return a specific phrase in a particular order put those words in quotations. For example: Song title: “blister in the sun”, or a name such as,: “George Washington Carver”
  5. Google is not case sensitive. A search for George Washington will get the same results as a search for george washington.
  6. You do not have to use “AND” between search terms

For more detailed information on these and other concepts click here. http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html
   
 

Advanced searches

You can reach the advanced search page from the Google home page or at this address: http://www.google.com/advanced_search

Tips on how to use this page are located at: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/refinesearch.html

You should be aware of the following advanced features:

  1. DOMAIN. You may limit the domain of your search on the advanced search page. This is an important tool because you can limit your search to more reputable sites such as .edu or .org.

    Alternatively, you may limit the search from the home page by typing site then a colon then the domain suffix. For example: women work world war II site:edu

    You may even use this as a tool to search only within a specific site For example: library site:potomacschool.org
  2. DATE. You may limit your search to documents that have been updated within a certain period of time. This will guarantee that your top returns are current.
  3. OCCURRENCES You may limit where the search term appears in the page One of the most useful things to do is limit the search to the title of the document. This should give you more informative results if you have chosen 1 or 2 strong keywords
  4. FILE FORMAT You may limit the file format. You could limit the search to only return a power point slide show on a topic such as juggling.

Check out http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/refinesearch.html for more detailed descriptions of advanced searches.
   
 

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