| One of the most beneficial activities a researcher can do is to familiarize themselves with the search tips or search methods of their favorite search engine. Most search engines have a basic search tip or help page and most also have an advanced search page. Researchers rarely take the time to learn the idiosyncrasies of their favorite search engine and therefore do not maximize the potential of their searches. When using a fee based database, it is also important to learn how the database handles given information. It is the same thing as learning how your favorite search engine handles queries. |
Some Useful Search Strategies
- Add a + or – sign in front of words you want to add or subtract from your search.
| Example: | | Saturn +planet –automobile -car (results should exclude or subtract websites on the Saturn car or automobile and give you more information on Saturn the planet |
- Abbreviate words, or add an asterisk (*) or question mark (?), to get all variations of a word.
| Example: | | teen* (results list will find all websites with the words teens, teenage, or teenagers) OR | educat? (results list will find all websites with the words educate, education, educator) |
- Field searching allows the researcher to specify where a keyword may be located in a website.
| Example: | | title:environment OR URL:epa |
- Use quotation marks when searching for a phrase or person's name.
| Phrase Examples: | | “to kill a mockingbird” “the world must be made safe for democracy” “Spanish-American War 1898” |
| Name Examples: | | “Sir Elton John” “Rudolph Giuliani” “Hillary Rodham Clinton” “Condoleeza Rice” “”W.E.B. Du Bois” ”George Washington Carver” (Adding an individual’s job title, occupation, or historical time period in which they lived will also weed out unwanted results.) |
NOTE: Some search engines use parentheses, commas, or hyphens when searching for a phrase or person, so check the tips page of your favorite search engine. When quotation marks, parentheses, commas or hyphens are added, in essence you are telling the search engine to find the combination of words on web pages only when they appear side by side. This eliminates websites where one of the words may appear in paragraph one and the second or third words appear in paragraphs four and six.
- Whenever you are looking for a website that was created by an organization and not an individual, it is a good idea to add the phrase, “official website”.
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