Digital literacy: Better google searches

Digital Literacy.

Searching the Internet

Belong. Believe. Become.

Getting the most from Google SearchesFor most Google is the first thing

they go to when they want to find information.

There are 2 basic search screens:

1. Standard (default) screen2. Advanced Search Screen


Google – Standard search screen


Parent Information Session 2

There are a few things to think about before starting your search. The first is to understand your question. (What you are trying to find?) Think about and decide on the most specific descriptive keywords you can think of to help narrow down the range of results.

• Avoid using words such as “the” and “an” in your search

• Also: the better, more reliable search results are found when you do not ask a question.

• If your search is not successful, try using synonyms. Google is useful that it will try other spellings if your version does not find anything.


1. Google automatically defaults to an “AND” search therefore automatically looks for results that use all your search terms.

2. If your topic has 2 or more related keywords, use phrase searching techniques. ie. “Genetically modified food”

This means that these words must be found together in that order on a site rather than the three words being individually found somewhere on the site. Try: “Sherlock Holmes” NOTE: Google (and Bing) once used to have a “not” option to exclude terms but this no longer works.

Simple tips for better resultsParent Information Session 2


Simple tips for better results


You can see the phrase you searched for in bold


When you run your search and have the results, there are several options at the top of the that are useful. In particular use the “Search Tools” option if you want to limit your search to Australian sites or recently updated data.



If you want results with either (OR any) of your words, you can use the OR keyword. This means that either (or any) of your search terms were found.

For example: a search for “Sherlock Holmes” OR “Doctor Watson” will find pages containing either the phrase “Sherlock Holmes” OR “Doctor Watson” and some page results will contain both.

Another way to be more specific and add extra search terms is to use parentheses around your terms.For example searching (“Sherlock Holmes” OR “Doctor Watson”) “television series” will find pages containing either the phrase “Sherlock Holmes” or “Doctor Watson” linked with the phrase “television series”.



You will have seen the web addresses of the sites you visit. The information here is useful to know and use. Some questions to keep in mind:1. Do you recognize the domain name?The domain name is found after the http:// and www. to the first forward slash /. A domain name can sometimes provide clues about the quality of information of a site or tell you what a site is about.2. What is the extension in the domain name?Extensions are an important part of domain names. Extensions are intended to show the type of establishment that owns and publishes the domain.



Here is a list of COMMON EXTENSIONS to look for:.edu = Educational organization .k12 = US school site (not all US schools use this).sch = School site (some schools outside of the US use this).ac = academic (in Britain and New Zealand).gov = Government agency.com = Company (usually .co in the UK).net = Network.org = A Non-profit organization.mil = Military institutionOther extensions to look for: .biz, .name, .pro, .info. are used for commercial purposes.

Extensions can also include country codes, such as .au, .ca, .ru, .uk, .za, etc. If there is no country code, the organisation is registered in the USA.




A complete list can be found at: http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/text/web_country_codes.html.

Some extensions may provide more reliable information than others, but there are no guarantees and all information should be checked and verified.

Those that may be more reliable include .edu, .gov, .k12.

The ones to be more careful with are .com, .org, .net. as these can be bought by anybody.



http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/text/web_country_codes.html





Using the Domain options in your searching.Searching within a specific site:If you know a useful site or you want to search a specific site. For example: You want to search for information about the space shuttle and you know there is something on the NASA site,. You can search: "space shuttle" site:nasa.gov

Try: "fishing safety" site:bom.gov.au cosmetices site:nova.org.au

Something on the “space race”? Most of the searches the come up are US sites. If you put in the search “space race” site:.ru you get Russian sites and a different slant.




Doing Wildcard searches

There are times you don’t remember the whole name/phrase of the thing you are looking for or perhaps you might not be sure of the spelling .You can do a search of this partial phrase by using the asterisk (*).

Try the following searches:

• "a * saved is a * earned“• "a * stitch in time saves *“• "the three * "



Other useful searching tips If you want to know what other pages link to the particular site you are interested in, you can use link: as a keyword.

For example: link:whitefriars.vic.edu.au

You can search for sites similar to the one you are on by using related: in your search

Example: related:whitefriars.vic.edu.au

If you go to a page that has changed, but you want to refer to an earlier page you can use cache:

Example: cache:whitefriars.vic.edu.au

If you can’t remember the above you can combine your searches and use info: and from here you will get a list of linked options to follow

Example: info:whitefriars.vic.edu.au




Example: info:whitefriars.vic.edu.auSimple tips for better results



More search optionsYou can chose to do a search of page titles, urls or intext searchesTo search for your topic in the title of a page you use - intitle: Example: intitle:volcanoes

If you are searching more than one word you can use allintitle: if you want all the words in the titleExample: allintitle:human and bionics

You can also search for something that appears in the URL of a page using inurl:Example: inurl:amazon



More search optionsYou can ask for a particular file type For example: use filetype:pdf

bionics filetype:pdfYou can check the weather forecast by typing in weather then the postcode Example: weather 3111You can quickly check definitions by typing in definition then the worddefine: You can do quick calculations and conversions Try: 403+683 429-59 40*32 1020/5

Conversions metric to Imperial3cups in ml



More search optionsConversions metric to Imperial for example 3cups in ml
