1. Advanced Web Searching for Teacher-Librarians
Paul Barron
and
All Right Reserved. This presentation may be copied and distributed for nonprofit educational purposes only. Revised and Sites Checked October 2016

2. Presentation Objectives
Review search syntaxes to search for:
Terms on a webpage
Boolean operators – AND and OR
Terms in a specific location on a Web document
Title of the webpage
Webpages from a source
Only one Top Level Domain (TLD)
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3. Presentation Objectives
Webpages from a source (continued)
Find results from only k12.va.us school divisions
Limit results to a single site; for example, ERIC
Use Google Search Tools “By time” option to limit results to a time period
Reduces the number of results returned
Review use of “double quotation marks” to search for:
Multiple search terms as phrases
Exact match of only one search term
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4. Use of “Double Quotation Marks”
Google expanded the capabilities of the quotation marks (“ ”) operator.
Use double quotation marks on:
two or more terms (“ ”) to search for an exact phrase,
single terms to force Google to match a single term exactly without synonyms
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

5. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Keyword Search
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

6. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Phrase Search
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

7. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Your turn to search!
Query
# of Results
reading literacy
reading AND literacy
“reading literacy”
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

8. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Boolean Operators
Using the Boolean operators AND or OR, add more search terms to further describe your topic.
Boolean operators are entered into the query in UPPER CASE.
If the OR operator is entered in lower case, Google ignores it.
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9. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
AND Boolean Operator
AND – Both of the search terms are present in the Web documents.
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10. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
AND Boolean Operator
The phrase “reading instructional strategies” and “elementary school” shall be returned in the search results.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

11. AND Boolean Operator Results
Note that all of the search terms were returned in the results.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

12. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Your turn to search!
If you are a middle or high school librarian, substitute “middle school” or “high school” in the query.
Query
# of Results
“elementary school” AND booklist
“elementary school” AND booklist AND fiction
“elementary school” AND booklist AND fiction AND “read aloud”
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

13. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
OR Boolean Operator
OR – At least one of the search terms is present in the webpage document.
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14. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
OR Boolean Operator
“reading instruction” AND "lesson plans" OR "curriculum guides" AND "middle school"
Both may appear but at least one of the search phases, "lesson plans" or "curriculum guides" must appear in the search results.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

15. OR Boolean Operator Results
Note that at least one of the search phrases appears in the results and both phrases are in the 2nd result.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

16. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Your turn to search!
If you are a elementary or high school librarian, substitute “middle school” or “high school” in the query.
Query
# of Results
"middle school" AND "book recommendations" OR booklists
"middle school" AND "book recommendations" OR booklists AND fiction OR non-fiction
"middle school" AND "book recommendations" OR booklists AND fiction OR non-fiction AND boys OR males
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

17. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Title Field Search
Syntax – intitle:(search terms)
Title Field Search (intitle:) – Returns results with the keyword or phrase in the webpage title.
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18. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Search Results
NOTE The phrase library instruction appears in the title of the results.
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19. Let’s do a title field search!
Query
# of Results
intitle:booklist AND "middle school" AND nonfiction
intitle:“read aloud” AND "book recommendations" AND "elementary school"
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

20. Why are intitle: searches important?
Title tags define the document. The title of a webpage is one of the most important “on-page” factors considered by Google when ranking a webpage. :
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

21. Top Level Domain-Limited Search
Top Level Domain-limited Search – Returns results from the top level domain specified in the query; for example, .edu, .gov, or .org.
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22. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
.org Search Results
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

23. Let’s do a TLD-Limited Search!
Query
# of Results
intitle:“read aloud” AND strategies AND "best practices" AND site:edu
“read aloud” AND strategies AND "best practices" AND site:edu
intitle:“read aloud” AND strategies AND "best practices" AND site:org
“read aloud” AND strategies AND "best practices" AND site:org
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

24. Top Level Domains (TLDs)
Purpose
.com
Commercial
.edu
Educational
.gov
Government
.mil
Military
.net
Network
.org
Organization
.us
United States
The are more than 800 top level domains; to see a list go to:
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25. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
k-12.va.us Limited Search
Syntax – site:k12.va.us
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

26. k-12.va.us Limited Search Results
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

27. Let’s do a TLD-Limited Search!
Query
# of Results
"graphic novels" AND reading AND motivation AND boys AND site:k12.va.us
"read aloud" AND recommendations AND site:k12.va.us
"reading literacy" AND skills AND games AND site:k12.va.us
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

28. Searching ERIC with Google
Type of search query – Site-limited search of one website.
Restricts the results to only ERIC.ed.gov content
Syntax – site:eric.ed.gov
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

29. ERIC Site-Limited Boolean AND Search
All results will be from the ERIC website.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

30. ERIC Site-Limited Results
NOTE
The 91 search results are from the ERIC database of educational research articles and the 2nd result is a full-text PDF; the 1st and 3rd results are only abstracts.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

31. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
What have we learned?
Limit searches to a Top Level Domain
Why? That domain may be concerned with your topic.
Specific Sites
k12.va.us
Only one website
Why? The site may be developed by topic specialists.
Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD)
Countries – Is the issue of concern worldwide?
Search Expert
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32. Recommendation for Searching
Begin with a title field search - intitle: “your topic”
Add Boolean expressions – AND or OR descriptors
Limit the results to a top level domain or country with site:
Associations or Organizations - .org
Educational Institutions - .edu
U.S. Government - .gov
Specific website.
site:k12.va.us
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33. Reducing the Number of Results
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

34. Reducing the Number of Results
How many results are there in the “Past year”?
To display the number of results in the “Past year” Select Search tools
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

35. To Return to the First Results Page
Select “Search tools” followed by “Clear” to return to the first results page.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

36. Searching ERIC with Google
Type of search query – Site-limited search of one website.
Restricts the results to only ERIC.ed.gov content
Syntax – site:eric.ed.gov
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

37. ERIC Site-Limited Boolean AND Search
All results will be from the ERIC website.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

38. ERIC Site-Limited Results
NOTE
The 91 search results are from the ERIC database of educational research articles and the 2nd result is a full-text PDF; the 1st and 3rd results are only abstracts.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

39. The PDF Filetype-Limited Search
A fairly good guarantee that the ERIC document will be full text.
"graphic novels" AND motivation AND boys
AND site:eric.ed.gov AND filetype:pdf
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

40. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
PDF Results
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

41. ERIC Site-Limited Title Search
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

42. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
ERIC Abstract
The dissertation is not available in full-text.
The Direct link links out to Proquest where you can buy the di$$ertation.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

43. Let’s try to find it for free!
Enter the title of the dissertation, with or without quotations marks, into the search query box.
Look for the university website address in the results and select that result.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

44. Dissertation Abstract with Link to Full-Text
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

45. Another Option: The Site-Limited Search
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

46. Search Query and Results
The author, dissertation title and university Web address.
Starkey, Alysia AND Kansas Academic Librarian Perceptions of Information Literacy Professional Development Needs AND site:ksu.edu
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

47. Dissertation (@ No Cost!)
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

48. Searching Other Countries with Google
Country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD)
A ccTLD is a unique two letter string assigned to a country or other geographical area to identify it in a webpage address.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

49. Limiting Results to Another Country
Syntax – site:(ccTLD)
"john locke" AND "thomas jefferson" AND "declaration of independence" AND site:uk
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50. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
.uk ccTLD Results
The sequence .ac (short for academia) is used in many countries for academic institutions. In the United Kingdom academic institutions use domain names ending in .ac.uk. 
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

51. What is the ERIC Thesaurus?
The Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors, or the ERIC Thesaurus, are words and phrases that describe ERIC documents by subject.
Each term represents a subject covered by ERIC.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

52. Searching the Thesaurus for “Reading”
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

53. Eric’s 57 Thesaurus Terms for “Reading”
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54. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Related Terms
“Related Terms” are other terms in the Thesaurus that may be associated with the subject represented by the Descriptor and may be useful in selecting search terms.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

55. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Scope Note
The “Scope Note” is a description of how the concept is defined within the ERIC literature.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

56. Search Query Heuristics
The first words in the search query are terms in the title of the webpage.
Google syntax – intitle:
Search terms of more than one word are enclosed within “double quotation” marks to search for them as a phrase.
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57. We have learned to find …
Search terms on a webpage with:
Keywords
Phrases
Boolean Expressions
Search terms in a specific location in the structure of the webpage:
Title of the webpage
Webpage address (URL) – similar to a descriptor or subject heading
I’m a top 1%ers!
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58. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
URL-limited Searches
URL Field Search (inurl:) – Returns results with the terms in the webpage address. Terms in the webpage address may function like a descriptor of the webpage content.
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59. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
inurl Search Results
NOTE All the results have k12 in the url and the phrases middle school and library instruction in the snippets.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

60. Your turn to search!
Query
# of Results
inurl:k12 AND "graphic novel"
inurl:k12 AND "graphic novel" AND "middle school" AND motivating
inurl:k12 AND "graphic novel" AND "middle school" AND motivating AND boys
Can you identify the states from the webpage addresses?
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

61. inurl: Search for Keywords/Phrases
Research by Microsoft determined that words in the URL may better describe the content of the webpage that the title of the webpage.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

62. Excluding a Term or Site in Search Results
Google does not support the NOT operator;  the minus sign "-" before a term gives the same functionality. 
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

63. Excluding a Website from the Results
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

64. Excluding a Website from the Results
best AND comics AND "graphic novels" AND children -site:amazon.com
NOTE The number of results decreased by 1.7 million with the exclusion of
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

65. Top Level Domain-Limited Search
Top Level Domain-limited Search – Returns results from the top level domain specified in the query
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66. .org Domain-Limited Search Results
NOTE All the results are from .org sites and library instruction is in the snippet title and lesson plans is in the text of the snippet.
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67. .int Domain-Limited Search
"information literacy" AND women OR girls AND students AND site:int
This query returns results from the International Treaty Organizations top level domain.
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68. .int Domain-Limited Search Results
NOTE
All the results are from .int sites.
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69. The top level domain-limited search …
… is useful because results are returned from the specified top level domain; for example, the International Treaty Organizations (.int) top level domain, that would not be returned for a query not limited to that domain.
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70. k12.va.us Site-Limited Query
k12.va.us-limited Search - Restricts the results to only Virginia DOE webpages or Virginia school divisions with k12 in their webpage URL.
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71. k12.va.us-limited Search Results
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72. A Very Useful Site-limited Search
"teacher resources" AND “elementary school" AND site:rockingham.k12.va.us
"teacher resources" AND “middle school" AND site:rockingham.k12.va.us
"teacher resources" AND "high school" AND site:rockingham.k12.va.us
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73. Country Code-Limited Search Query
intitle:"cyber bullying" AND "middle school students" AND site:uk
Country Code-limited Search - Restricts the results to a country code; for example, China (.cn), Germany (.de), Spain (.es) or the United Kingdom (.uk).
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74. .uk Country Code Search Results
NOTE
All the results are from the United Kingdom (uk). Also note that .ac. precede the UK ccTLD.
QUESTION What does .ac. signify in the URL?
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75. Searching with the Google.UK
intitle:“american studies” AND “comparative history” AND site:.ac.uk
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76. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
.ac.uk-limited Search
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77. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Country Codes Source
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78. Google Search Worldwide Addresses
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

79. PowerPoint Filetype-Limited Query
Filetype-limited Search - Limits the results to a specific filetype; for example, PowerPoint (ppt), Word (doc), Excel (xls) or PDF (pdf).
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80. PowerPoint Filetype-limited Search Results
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81. PDF Filetype-Limited Query
"reading strategies" AND boys AND "middle school" AND journal AND filetype:pdf
"reading strategies" AND boys AND "middle school" AND journal AND filetype:pdf
Why should I do PDF filetype-limited searches?
By adding the keyword “journal” to the query and limiting the results to a PDF, full-text journal article will most likely be returned.
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82. PDF Filetype-Limited Query
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83. PDF Filetype-Limited Query
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84. “Cited by …” and “Related articles”
Through its …
"cited by" feature, Google Scholar provides access to abstracts of articles that have cited the article being viewed.
"Related articles" feature, Google Scholar presents a list of related articles, ranked by how similar these articles are to the original result, but also taking into account the relevance of each paper.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

85. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
“Cited by” Results
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

86. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
The Cited Resource
This is a 218-page report on effective programs for struggling readers.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

87. Best Evidence Encyclopedia
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

88. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
“Related articles”
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

89. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
inurl: Search
The inurl: search restricts results to those containing all the query terms you specify in the URL (webpage address).
Terms in the URL may function as a descriptor or subject heading of the content of the webpage.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

90. Link Checking Syntax – link:(web address)
Link Checking returns webpages linked to a website or a webpage.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

91. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Link Check Results to
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

92. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
Your turn to search!
Query
link:
link: AND “reading strategies” AND “teacher librarian”
link: AND “reading strategies” AND “elementary school” AND "teacher librarian"
link: AND "reading strategies" AND "elementary school“ AND "teacher librarian“ AND
site:edu
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

93. Pinterest Site-Limited Search
The site-limited search returns results from only one site included in the query.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

94. Pinterest Search Results
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

95. Why should I do site searches?
Quicker way to navigate a website
Searcher can use Google syntaxes to define precisely the information need
Boolean AND/OR
intitle: syntax
filetype:ppt and/or filetype:pdf
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

96. Your turn to do site searches!
Query
# of Results
"reading research" AND site:
intitle:"read aloud books" AND "book list“ AND “middle school” AND site:pinterest.com
intitle:“graphic novel" AND "book list“ AND “middle school boys” AND site:pinterest.com
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

97. Alternatives to Google
Search Engine
Address
Remarks
Bing provides results to YAHOO!
Creator wants recommendations from educators
Gabriel Weinberg - or go to
Proximity Operator
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98. Query Syntax Help Sources
Title
URL
See Syntax at
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99. Google Shows Missing Keywords
If you use a long query, Google might ignore some of your keywords. Maybe there aren't many results that match all your keywords or maybe some of them are redundant.
Google now shows a list of missing keywords below search results. Those words aren't included by the pages returned by Google, but the search results should still be relevant and useful.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

100. Why don’t all my search terms appear in the results.
Google will find all the search terms but if the top results have only some of the search term only those results, with the missing search terms, will be displayed.
Look at other results; for example, the 20th or later results, your keywords may be returned.
VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course

101. About Syntax Spacing Spaces No space No space Remember
Boolean Operators are entered in UPPER CASE.
Spaces
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102. VAASL 2016 Annual Conference – Libraries: Charting the Course
What have we learned?
Limit searches to a Top Level Domain
Why? That domain may be concerned with your topic.
Specific Sites
k12.va.us
Only one website
Why? The site may be developed by topic specialists.
Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD)
Countries – Is the issue of concern worldwide?
Search Expert
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102

103. Recommendation for Searching
Begin with a title field search - intitle: “your topic”
Add Boolean expressions – AND or OR descriptors
Limit the results to a top level domain or country with site:
Associations or Organizations - .org
Educational Institutions - .edu
U.S. Government - .gov
Specific website.
site:k12.va.us
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