Effective Search Practices

Going Beyond Google

Effective Search Practices

Develop a search plan Teach students to use advanced search

techniques Teach students to use more advanced and

specialized search engines

Define the research problem

Is it a relatively simple question? Is it a fact finding mission? Is the research question complex with a

series of questions or relationships I need to explore

Know what sort of information you are trying to find

Am I looking for text, video or pictures? Do I need biographical information? Is the information I need historic or current in

content? Should I be asking an expert in the field?

Start with keywords

What keywords MUST be included in the search?

What keywords MIGHT be included in the search?

What keywords SHOULD NOT be included in the search?

Create a chart

Should NotMightMust

The plus (+) sign

Using the + sign in a search means that all the words in the search will be contained in the website

For example: birds + eagle

Greatly reduces hits

The minus (-) sign

Using the – sign tells the search engine not to include the word

For example: birds – eagle

Will result in a search on birds without any information on eagles

Quotation Marks

Using quotation marks around the words in the search mean that phrase is included in the website

For example: birds + “North America” – eagle

Will result in search of North American birds but nothing about eagles

Boolean Operators

Use Capital Letters AND OR NOT

The host command

Again use AltaVista

host:gov (only government)

host:k12.ma.us (only K-12 schools in MA)

host:uk (for country searching us country abbreviation)

Country Codes

Every country has a codeCountry Codes

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