Have you ever spent hours and hours searching for information on the Internet?  Have you ever just given up because you could not find what you were looking for?  Well here are some tips that you may help you in your search.

1. The more specific you are in your search... the better your results will be. 
   

              Example: Instead of searching for "wars" search for "civil war" or "world war 2", etc.        

2. Type your search in all lower case letters.  This allows the search engine to find items that start with both upper and lower case letters.

              Example: "dodge ball"  or "pennsylvania"

3. Use the + sign between words... This allows you to find all of the words that you entered, and not just one of them.  It also helps reduce the overwhelming amount of useless information that you may receive.

              Example: gettysburg +history +tourist attractions

4. Use the - sign between words to narrow your search.  The - sign allows you to take words out of your search... It keeps you from being bombarded with extra information.  You can even keep adding more - signs to narrow your search even further.  * Make sure that you do not leave any spaces between the - and the next word. 
   

                Example: political party information-bush-kerry-election 2004

5. Using "QUOTES" makes sure that only the pages that have the exact words in that exact order within the quotes will be found.  You can also use this strategy with the + and - to really create a specific search.

                Example:  "the three little pigs"    or  "albert einstein"

6. You can use or when you are not quite of which word to use in your search

                                     Example: boats or ships

7. Use a * symbol to allow for various spellings of the word

                Example: build*  finds: build, builder, building, buildings

8. If these tips do not help you don't forget about the HELP or SEARCH TIPS sections that is provided in your selected search engine.  This will tell you exactly how that particular search engine works and which search tips to use.

9. Don't forget that there are many search engines that you can use.  Some search engines are designed for specific purposes like shopping, education, media, kids, news and much more!  Here is a list of my favorite search engines that you may find useful.