Web (Online) Research
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3. How to use search engines & how do you use them efficiently
I have kept this part of my rants on online research a bit waiting, as it simply is rather difficult to describe how to use search engines. Everybody will have a different opinion if this is either extremely boring, absolutely new and fantastic, or simply wasted reading. So I am not going to reinvent the wheel and point out to one excellent "Google Cheat Sheet" that I think is worth reading and gives an excellent overview on how to search on Google. Fair enough there are a number of other search engines out there, and I mentioned a few above. Personally I have been using Google and basically live in there, as my colleagues are telling me.
The few key ways of using Google (taken from the Google Cheat Sheet):
| SAMPLE QUERIES | `IN RESPONSE GOOGLE GIVES YOU PAGES with ... | |||
| holiday travel | the words holiday and travel | |||
| Aruba OR Bermuda | the word Aruba or Bermuda | |||
| "I have a dream" | the exact phrase I have a dream | |||
| +I spy | the words I & spy (force Google not to ignore I) | |||
| salsa -dance | the word salsa but NOT the word dance | |||
| part-time | the words part-time, part time, or parttime | |||
| Google ~Guide | the words Google & both guide & its synonyms | |||
| hybrid cars site:npr.org | hybrid cars from the website npr.org | |||
| kite aerial photos site:ca | kite aerial photos from the .ca domain (from Canada) | |||
| kite aerial photos *.ppt | kite aerial photos in PowerPoint format (try also *.pdf) | |||
| define:gato | definitions of gato from the web in several languages | |||
I encourage you to read more on that page.
Generally, it is important to try different ways of using your search terms. So you might want to play with your search terms. Instead of using sentences, you should try only nouns or instead of only nouns full sentences ... try it and you will be surprised of the difference in search results. You should also try the advanced search function of Google, where you can define even further, e.g. the time frame which you are looking for etc.
If you are looking for pictures, the Google image search also comes in quite handy, e.g. if you don't know how a particular fruit name, just type it in there and you quickly get a picture.
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