This page is dedicated to providing you with research techniques to ensure that you are getting the most out of your Google searches. Please, add suggestions via the comment section below.
Boolean Operators
Yes, more Boolean. No matter where you go, when receiving advice on searching, Boolean Operators are sure to be mentioned. Mastering when to use which operators and how to do it, is the first step to successful research. For a lesson, refer to the General Search Tips page.
AND/OR
Google uses AND as its default operator. So, if you're searching for web pages about cats or dogs or cats and dogs, it would be problematic to simply put the two terms cats dogs in the search box, as it would only return results that mention both cats and dogs. The search cats OR dogs would, however, return all web pages that mention cats, all web pages that mention dogs, and all web pages that mention both cats AND dogs.
NOT
A NOT search is possible with Google. Simply type the minus sign in front of the word that you would like to NOT. For instance, casablanca returns 23,500,000 results, but casablanca -movie returns only 3,220,000 results. That's still a big number, but we've weeded out 20 million web pages, many of which are probably not as much about the city as they are about the movie (though, we have probably lost some good results by doing this…SO, be careful about NOT searching).
The Common Word Problem
Google automatically gets rid of common words. By doings so, it is able to perform its searches much faster and retrieve much better results. Sometimes, though, this can be problematic. Straight from Google:
If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can include it by putting a "+" sign in front of it. (Be sure to include a space before the "+" sign.)
Another method for doing this is conducting a phrase search, which simply means putting quotation marks around two or more words. Common words in a phrase search (e.g., "where are you") are included in the search.
For example, to search for Star Wars, Episode I, use: Star Wars Episode +1 or "Star Wars Episode 1"
Truncation
There is no way on Google, that I know of, to truncate searches. Google claims that it automatically stems words and searches for the relevant variants, but it doesn't get everything. For instance, a search for dogs returns 143,000,000 results, while a search for dog OR dogs returns 416,000,000 results
More to Come
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