Using search engines effectively

 Google does NOT work very well by asking it questions.  Effective searches consist of typing in carefully chosen words.

 Each search term you use with a search engine is similar to a bead on a string  Adding more words or phrases to your search adds more beads to the string teens Facebook social networking

Before getting started, you need to know what are site operators, or domain names. Every website has a domain that is indicated by three letters at the end of the URL (or website address). These letters indicate the type of organization sponsoring the website. Domain NameType of WebsiteExamples.comcommercialwww.ebay.com.eduhigher educationwww.edison.edu.govU. S. governmentwww.census.gov.milU. S. militarywww.army.mil.net Internet Service Providers non-profit organizations ~ or %personal websiteswww.members/tripod. com/~JSmith.html

 Use quotation marks to look for words in the exact order you enter them  Use a minus sign to exclude a word from your search  Limit a search by site operators or domain names  “human rights”  vikings –Minnesota  site:edu or site:org (Shakespeare site:edu) You are searching for information on seasonal depression. 1.Search Google for depression. How many hits? 2.Now use a minus sign depression –great. How many hits? 3.Add quotation marks “seasonal depression”. How many hits? 4.Limit by site operator depression –great seasonal FAQ site:edu

Let’s try another search. You are searching for information on the Great Depression of the 1930s. 1.Search Google for great depression. How many hits? 2.Add quotation marks “great depression”. How many hits? 3.Limit by site operator “great depression” site:org okies occupations

One more. You are searching for information on the green house effect and its relationship to global warming. 1.Search Google for “greenhouse effect”. How many hits? 2.Limit by site operator “greenhouse effect” site:gov 3.Limit by site operator “greenhouse effect” site:org 4.Delete results from open source encyclopedias like Wikipedia by typing “greenhouse effect” site:org -Wikipedia

Your turn! Using what you have just learned, work with your partner to answer the following question: Can you explain how Edgar Allan Poe used the raven symbol in his poem “The Raven”? “Edgar Allan Poe” site:edu raven symbol (5,140 hits). The raven in the poem is a symbol of “mournful and never ending remembrance”.

Your turn (again)! Using what you have just learned, work with your partner to answer the following question: How was Edgar Allan Poe related to Virginia Clem? “Edgar Allan Poe” “Virginia Clem” site:edu (6 hits). Poe married Clem, his 13 year-old cousin in 1836.

Last one! Using what you have just learned, work with your partner to answer the following question: What kind of birdhouse should you build to attract the purple martin to your home in Minnesota? “purple martin” Minnesota site:edu birdhouse attract (155 sites)

Search operatorExamples  define:longitudinal  related:  allintitle:your query  ~your query  shows a list of definitions for the word “longitudinal”  Lists webpages similar to try: related:  Restricts results to those with all the query words in the title. Try: allintitle:”teen drinking”  searches for your query and all its synonyms. Try: ~mobile phone