Heather Owings
SLM 521
Fall 2003
Elective #13

Search Engine Tips

Because of the gigantic nature of the Internet, searching for any small chunk of information can be time consuming and frustrating. With that in mind, here are several SEARCH tips you can utilize. You can use these hints in any search engine, although I suggest Google.

Please visit Google www.google.com to try these tips:

Spelling counts!
The word plain has much different results than plane! Try it and see!

Type in "plain wood" and then search a second time with "plane wood." Do you see the difference? One results in wood flooring and the other in wood planes used to turn raw logs into boards.

A search engine works only when you have typed in the correct word correctly spelled.

Exact phrase
To narrow your search, you can type in an exact phrase.

If you are looking for Henry Ford's first automobile, type: "Henry Ford's first automobile" into the search bar. Go to Google and try it without the quotes first, you'll get over 8,000 hits! Now try it with the quotes, how many hits did you get this time?

Addition/Subtraction
The addition sign "+" will tell a search engine what words MUST be in all the results. A subtraction sign "-" will tell a search engine what NOT to include.

For example, you want to find out more about traveling by train across the U.S.A. You would type in: United + States + train + travel

OR: If you're interested in the history of trains in the U.S.A. but do not want to have to look through travel sites, you would type in: United + States + train - travel

(Google does not require the use of "+" or "-" but other search engines might)

Refine Subject
Use at least two or three when searching.

Try this: Type in "Lindbergh" and you'll find that the results are over 300,000! Add "Charles Lindbergh" and it narrows your results down to about 130,000. But if you type in "Charles Lindbergh's plane," you'll have over 3,000 hits.

With every word I added the results shrunk, so be as specific as possible about what you are searching for.

Conjunctions
If a search engine does not use the addition/subtraction symbols mentioned above, it might use the Boolean terms: AND OR NOT

Using the same examples from the addition/subtraction tip above, you would type: United AND States AND train AND travel
Or type in: United AND States AND train AND travel OR tourism

For the second example, you would type: United AND States AND train NOT travel

Help!
If you are still having difficulty finding your topic through a search engine, maybe you need a special search engine. Visit Noodletools for more help! (http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html)