Basic Search Techniques

Here are the few basic search techniques to follow (Web Searching Skills n.d.) 

1. Think before you search. Think about the topic or question you would like to search. Think about how you would describe the topic and choose 3 or 4 keywords. 

2. Keep it simple. Describe what you want in as few terms as possible. 

3. Be specific. The more precise your search terms are, the more precise your search results will be. Avoid general or common words. 

4. Imagine how the webpage you are hoping to find will be written. Use words that are likely to appear on that page. 

5. Capitalization, punctuation and spelling don’t really matter. In most cases, search engines will ignore capitalization and punctuation in a search and will generally auto-correct your spelling mistakes. 

6. Narrow your search results. There are several ways to help you narrow your search results to find exactly what you’re looking for.: 

• Use quotation marks to find exact phrases or names. Put a word or phrase inside quotes. 

Example: "tallest building" 

• Use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, and NOT) to broaden or narrow your search 

AND (+ in Google) narrows the search because it requires both terms to be in each item returned. Example: Peanut Butter +and Jam 

• OR broadens the search because either term (or both) will be in the returned items. (OR gives you more!) Example: marathon OR race 

• NOT (- in Google) narrows your search because it will eliminate any results with the second term. Example: jaguar speed -car 

• Apply filters. After you search, most search engines have filters available that will refine you search to a specific type of contact.

• Search a specific site. If you’re looking for a specific topic on a particular website, you can use site: to limit your search results to that site. 

Example: site:youtube.com or site:.gov 

• Search for a specific filetype. If you know that you’re searching for a particular type of file use 

filetype: to narrow your search results to a certain type of file. 

Example: filetype:ppt 

• Search for a definition. If you are looking for a definition of a term, you can use define. 

Example: define communication 

• Search for a time. If you are searching for a time in specific country, use time . 

Example: time Dubai 

• Search for social media. Put @ in front of a word to search social media. 

Example: @twitter 

• Search for a price. Put $ in front of a number. 

Example: camera $400 

• Search hashtags. Put # in front of a word. 

Example: #throwbackthursday 

• Search for wildcards or unknown words. Put a * in your word or phrase where you want to leave a placeholder. 

Example: "largest * in the world". 

• Search within a range of numbers. Put .. between two numbers. 

Example: camera $50..$100. 

When the internet was introduced, you started searching and looking for the best answer to your questions. In doing so, you tried to “google”. Google is the number one search ______________ today, followed by _______________, then ______________. Since Google is the popular search engine, the term “google” is used as the colloquial term for ______________ search. It is the process of interactively searching for and retrieving requested information via a computer from databases that are online. In order to collect data more quickly and easily using the search engine, it is important to follow the basic _____________ techniques. Here are some of the techniques: 

1. Think before you ____________. Think about the topic or question you would like to search. Think about how you would describe the topic and choose ____________ keywords. 

2. Keep it ___________. Describe what you want in as few terms as possible. 

3. Be specific. The more ____________ your search terms are, the more precise your search results will be. Avoid general or common words. 

4. Imagine how the webpage you are hoping to find will be written. Use ___________ that are likely to appear on that page. 

5. Capitalization, punctuation and spelling don’t really matter. In most cases, search engines will ___________ capitalization and punctuation in a search and will generally auto-correct your spelling mistakes. 

6. ___________ your search results. There are several ways to help you narrow your search results to find exactly what you’re looking for, like the use of ________________ such as ______ to search social media and __________ to exclude words from your search.