How a Google Search Actually Works!
After you watch: turn to a neighbor who is also done and tell them what a spider is!
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(1) Google Basic Search Tips
- Keep it simple. Try not to add too many words or descriptors. No complete sentences necessary!
- Little words are called stop words, meaning Google skips over them, so don't type or, and, I, etc.
- Use web friendly words. For example, don't say my head hurts, say headache, because that is what will be on the webpage. Think about what you think your answer might be, and see if you can add words to your search from that.
- Do not type questions. Think about what result you want and type that. For example
- Do not worry about:
- Spelling - Google will correct it for you.
- Capitalization - Google does not recognize capital letters as different from lower case.
- Punctuation - Google ignores all punctuation.
Information from: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en
(2)Google Advanced Search Tips
All things in red are called operators. Operators help you to refine your search and get more accurate results.
- If you want the definition of a word, type define: in front of any word.
- Want to solve an equation? Type it into the search bar: 345+6785. Use the * key for multiplication, and the / for division.
- If you are searching for an exact phrase (like song lyrics), use quotation marks around the phrase. Otherwise Google just looks for those words scattered around in an entry.
- To exclude a word type a - in front of it. So if you want to search for the animal jaguar, but you keep getting car results, search: jaguar -car.
- If you want all the results from a specific site, use site:nytimes.com. It will find all entries about a topic in the New York Times newspaper. So if I want to see all the articles they have written on the Olympics, I will search: olympics site:nytimes.com. Or if your teacher tells you NOT to use a site, you can use the hyphen: -site:wikipedia.org.
- If you are looking up an exact phrase, but you cannot remember one of the words, use the * symbol to hold the place of the missing word. For example: "a penny * is a penny earned" will find the common phrase "a penny saved is a penny earned"
Information from: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/136861?hl=en
(3) Click here to learn about Truncation, a search strategy!
(4) Boolean Operators
If you type multiple words in a search, Google assumes that you want to find all of those words, so the word AND is not needed in a Google search. So, if you want to find a website that talks about Martin Luther King, Jr. AND Rosa Parks, you can just type martin luther king jr. rosa parks, and it will find pages with all of those words on it. If you want to use OR as an operator, to find pages about either subject, then you must use the word "or" in all capital letters: OR. If you want to exclude a word or phrase from your results, you can use the operator NOT or AND NOT. All words behind those operator words will be excluded from your search. Want to learn more? Click on the links below. |
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(5) Using Filters to Narrow Your Search
You can narrow your searches by using the Search Tools button right below the search bar in Google.
Try this:
Now click on Google Images and search hurricanes. There are several cool ways to filter your image results.
Try this:
- Search for hurricane. How many results do you get? What are your top search results?
- Now click the Search Tools button and choose any time
- Choose Custom range, then choose a range from August 2005 to October 2005. (Tip: It's easiest to choose just the years, then refine the range to the months. Do not try to click back through the months all the way to 2005, it will take forever).
- How did this change your results?
- How could you use this search tool to help you research?
Now click on Google Images and search hurricanes. There are several cool ways to filter your image results.
- Usage Rights - Most Important One! Choose labeled for reuse, and you can use these pictures without violating copyright! Be careful though, because you should still make sure you give credit to the website/illustrator/photographer before you use it!
- Type - You can filter your results by choosing photo, clip art, or line drawing!
- Color - You can filter your results to find only certain colors as well!
(6) For a fun way to see the information above and more, click here for
The Power of Google.
Summary
Eliminate STOP words from your search. Stop words are those little words like the, I, a. Google will ignore them!
No capitals or punctuation in Google Searches!
Use operators to help refine your search:
Using Filters
No capitals or punctuation in Google Searches!
Use operators to help refine your search:
- define: to find word definitions
- quotation marks to find exact phrases
- minus sign to delete specific words from search results
- site: to search a specific site
- * to replace forgotten words in a phrase
- And is implied, no need to type and
- OR will widen your search to include all pages with EITHER word
- NOT or AND NOT will exclude all words following from your search results
Using Filters
- Time Filter can narrow your searches to specific times.
- Narrow your Image results by Usage Rights, Type of Image, or Color