A successful Internet search can take several tries. But remember: it's estimated that there are between 200 and 800 million documents online - with no master system for organizing this information! No wonder effective searches take knowhow, patience and ingenuity. 1. Carefully choose the right Key Words Important so that you don’t end up with too Use nouns as keywords. many or too few search results, or simply Don’t use unnecessary words such as "a," unable to locate the information that you "the", "he", "it", "to", "from" want. Use between 4 and 8 words 2. Use to be more exact phrases, Phrases are combinations of two or more You a phrase, such as shopping” words that must be found in the documents “internet using quotation marks you're searching for in the exact order shown. 3. Exclude specific Key You can search for web pages that containing To do this, simply use the "-" sign in front of the your key words but not those with the word you want to exclude, eg excluded word. shopping” -advertising “internet 4. Use Boolean operators: These can be used to narrow your search to a AND means you only want web pages that reasonable number of results, and increase contain both words the chance of those results being useful. eg London AND Victoria – OR means you want web pages that contain They are always written in CAPITAL letters either word eg London OR Victoria – 5. Select the of information type Most search engines will let you choose to Choose from options, shown at the top or search for only web sites, maps, images, side of the screen videos. 6. Restrict parts of the Web are used You may often only want information from Eg only results from the UK web sites in the UK, for example when doing – Internet shopping To get good search results takes skill and, as with most skills, practice makes perfect!
A successful Internet search can take several tries. But remember: it's estimated that there are between 200 and 800 million documents online - with no master system for organizing this information! No wonder effective searches take knowhow, patience and ingenuity. 1. Carefully choose the right Key Words Use nouns as keywords. Don’t use unnecessary words such as "a," "the", "he", "it", "to", "from" Use between 4 and 8 words Important so that you don’t end up with too many or too few search results, or simply unable to locate the information that you want. 2. Use phrases, to be more exact You a phrase, such as “internet shopping” using quotation marks Phrases are combinations of two or more words that must be found in the documents you're searching for in the exact order shown. 3. Exclude specific Key To do this, simply use the "-" sign in front of the word you want to exclude, eg “internet shopping” -advertising You can search for web pages that containing your key words but not those with the excluded word. 4. Use Boolean operators: AND means you only want web pages that contain both words – eg London AND Victoria OR means you want web pages that contain either word – eg London OR Victoria These can be used to narrow your search to a reasonable number of results, and increase the chance of those results being useful. They are always written in CAPITAL letters 5. Select the type of information Choose from options, shown at the top or side of the screen Most search engines will let you choose to search for only web sites, maps, images, videos. 6. Restrict parts of the Web are used Eg – only results from the UK You may often only want information from web sites in the UK, for example when doing Internet shopping To get good search results takes skill and, as with most skills, practice makes perfect!