Jessica Michaelson

SLM 521

June 3, 2005

SEARCH TIPS

Have you ever gone to a search engine looking for fast results on a certain topic? Of Course you have. But, did you get the results you were looking for right away? Probably not. Here are some quick tips for you to use when doing your searching, which will hopefully help you get the results you are looking for as soon as possible.

When trying out the tips below, you may want to go to my Search Engines website, which presents some of the best places to search the topics you need.

Grab a paper and pencil, and take some notes while you search. I would really appreciate some feedback.

Search Tip #1~ Be specific

The more specific you are, the more likely you are to get the results you want. It is not a bad thing to type in exactly what you want.

For example: Look for information on what an obtuse angle is. Go to one of the search engines on my Search Engines website, and type in just “angles” or just “obtuse”. Write down the results you get. Now type in “obtuse angles,” and write down the results you get. Which search gave you a better list of sites?

Search Tip #2~ Use the + symbol

If you want to make sure the search engine finds a website with all of the words you are looking for, you should enter the + symbol between the words.

For example: Pick one of the Search Engines and type in obtuse and acute angles. Browse over the websites that are listed. Now type in obtuse+acute+angles. Do you notice a difference? What is that difference?

Search Tip #3~ Use the – symbol

Sometimes you are looking for a webpage that has one word on them but no other words. The – symbol is the way to do this. This helps to focus on results when you are getting too many that are unrelated to the topic.

For example: If you are looking for information on angels, but you don’t want to learn anything about vertices, you would type in angles-vertices. This way it narrows down your search to angles, with nothing about vertices. Try this at one of the Search Engines.

Search Tip #4~ Put quotation marks, “ ” around a

phrase

This makes it so that the web pages presented only contain the words that you are looking for in the order that you put them in.

For example: Go to one of the Search Engines, and type in right angles. Look at the results you get, and look at some of the web pages. Now type in “right angles.” Is there a difference? Which way was better to get the results that you wanted?

Search Tip #5~ Use the * symbol

Often times, people narrow their search too much, and cannot find the results they are looking for. When the * symbol is entered, the search becomes broadened. When the * symbol is entered next to a word, pages will come up that has anything with that word in it. Even if the word has a prefix, suffix, or is pluralized, it will come up when the * symbol is entered.

For example: Pick one of the Search Engines, and type in vertex. Scroll through, and look at the web pages listed, and what they are about. Now type in vertex*. Did the same pages pop up, or did you get more results? Which did you like doing more?

Please turn in the notes that you have taken while practicing your searching tips. Did you enjoy this activity? Was it useful?