Search Tips

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Take some time to read about your subject in an encyclopedia before you search.  Good searching takes a knowledge of subject and vocabulary.

 Check out this tutorial: "Finding Information on the Internet." Teaching Library University of California, Berkeley. April 25, 2000. 9 March 2004. <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html>.

•     Search by keywords or phrases.

              Keywords are words that are specific to your topic. Avoid general terms or words. Be as specific as possible. For example, 'Antietam' and not 'civil war.' Expand your vocabulary and try different keywords, perhaps a synonym might be helpful. Try changing the word order.

               Search using a phrase whenever possible.  Phrases are expressions that often uniquely describe a topic, such as "weapons of mass destruction."  Use quotation marks to to produce better, more successful results.

• Use lower case letters.

          For example, 'civil war prisons' not 'Civil War Prisons.'  Search engines are not case sensitive when handling keywords or phrases entered in lower case.  A search on 'civil war prisons' will result in a list of Web sites that include the phrase in lower case as well as mixed and upper case.

• Use "Search Engine Math" to combine keywords and phrases.

          Use the plus sign (+) when combining words or phrases.  Place the plus sign (+) without a space in front of words or phrases.      +"kennedy assassination" +zapruder or +"nuclear power plants' +costs +benefits +risks.

          Use - to exclude a word or phrase.  Place the minus (-) sign without a space in front of words or phrases. "kennedy assassination" -zapruder.

• Understand what search engines do not search.  Millions of articles in magazine and newspaper databases as well as specialized ones (CQ Researcher, for instance) are not searched. They make up the invisible web. Use the library handout to access them from the Online Research Collection page.

• Understand the results of your search. The most relevant are listed first even if the results are thousand of pages. The more the words on a page match the words of a search, the higher a page is listed. Pages with matching words and phrases in their titles are considered even more relevant and listed higher in the results. The popularity of a page is a factor as well. Search engines consider the number of times a page is visited and the number of other sites linking to it. These influence how high the page will rank. Be aware of paid placements. Many prominently list pages that have paid to be listed. These sponsored listings are usually seperated and distinguished in some way from the other results.

      Elkordy, Angela. Web searching, sleuthing and sifting.  <http://www.thelearningsite.net/cyberlibrarian/searching/ismain.html>.

      Notess, Greg R.  Search Engine Showdown: The Users' Guide to Web Searching.  1999-2007. <http://www.notess.com/search/>.