Extreme Googling: Tips & Tricks For Expert Searching

Extreme Googling: Tips & Tricks for Expert Searching Martha E. Hardy November 24, 2008 [email_address]

Google for Research
Advanced Google Searching
Google Scholar
Google Books
Google U. S. Government Search

Objectives
You will learn to:
Simplify your searching,
Identify main concepts,
Search broadly to maximize relevant results,
Target your search, and
Revise your search strategy.

Simplify Your Google Searching
Type in lower case.
Google ignores capitalization in most cases.
Leave out punctuation.
Some punctuation marks are actually search commands that alter search results.
No need to connect terms with AND.
Google always tries to find all search terms.
Enter search terms in the singular forms.
Google should automatically search for all endings of words, both singular and plural.

Identify Main Concepts of Search Topic
Take a moment to define the information you need to find.
I need recent, credible information about outbreaks of avian flu.
Write down the two or more main aspects of your topic.
Avian flu
Outbreaks

List Search Terms
Make a list of search terms, including synonyms and related terms, for each concept.
Avian Flu
avian flu, bird flu, avian influenza, bird influenza, H5N1
Outbreaks
outbreak, incidence, incident, case, statistic

Tips for Searching Broadly
We will cover the following tips for searching broadly to search more comprehensively on your topic:
Use OR to broaden search results,
Enclose each concept in parentheses, and
Use ~ to find similar words.

Use OR to Broaden Search
Connecting keywords with OR retrieves results using the search terms on either side of the OR.
Excellent strategy to retrieve results for synonyms or terms that are closely related in meaning.
Brings together the results for both search terms into one big set.
Use to search comprehensively on a topic.
OR must be capitalized.

Enclose Each Concept in Parentheses
Use parentheses to enclose the search terms for each concept.
(avian OR bird OR H5N1) (flu OR influenza)
Google searches for the terms within the parentheses first before combining with terms outside the parentheses.

Parentheses

Enclose Each Concept in Parentheses
Use multiple levels of parentheses for more complex searches.

Use ~ to Find Similar Words
Use the tilde symbol ~ to find similar words.
Google tries to retrieve results that include words with similar meanings.
Put the tilde directly before the search term, with no intervening space.
~avian
Note: Since Google must cross-reference similar words, connecting keywords with OR is the most reliable method.

Target Your Search
These tips will help you to target your search to retrieve the most relevant and useful search results:
Use “ ” for phrase searching,
Search for a range of numbers,
Search for certain types of Web pages,
Exclude terms from the search,
Retrieve documents with particular filetypes, and
Search for title words.

Use “ ” for Phrase Searching
Surrounding phrases with quotation marks keeps the words together in this exact order.
Particularly useful for names, concepts or titles involving multiple words.
“ Avian influenza A (H5N1) infection in humans”

Use * to Fill in the Blank
Use * to fill in the blank, if an intervening word is unknown.

Search for a Range of Numbers
Google doesn’t provide a precise method for searching for dates of publication.
To search for a range of numbers, connect the numbers with ..

Exclude Terms from Search
Put the - immediately before the search term to exclude it.
To find information about dolphins (the animal), but not football

Web Domains
The domain at the end of a Web address indicates the type of organization or entity that published the Web page.
Commercial entity = .com
Non-Profit Organization = .org
Federal, state or local government = .gov
Educational institution = .edu

Limit to Particular Domains
Limit the search to a particular type of Web site with command site: followed by the domain type.
Sites published by government (.gov), educational (.edu) or non-profit organizations (.org) are generally good places to look for credible information.

Exclude Certain Domains
Alternatively, exclude commercial sites using – immediately before the domain
-site:com

Retrieve Documents with Certain Filetypes
To limit search results to a certain filetype, place the command filetype immediately before the file extension, with no space.
Commonly used and useful file extensions:
pdf: Portable Document Format, good for finding handouts
xls: Excel, useful for finding data sets
jpg, gif, png, tif: Various filetypes for images
ppt: To find PowerPoint presentations.

Search for Words in Titles
Use intitle: to require that the search term be in the title of the Web page.

Revise Your Search
Different word orders retrieve different results.
Add additional search terms to your search strategy to receive fewer and more specific results
Try the Advanced Search Screen to the right of the Google search box.

Questions About Advanced Searching ?

Google Scholar
How to access Scholar
What it searches
What it doesn’t search
Using commands and query modifiers to search
Advanced search screen
Cited reference searching
Advantages & Scope

Accessing Google Scholar
Search Google for Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/
Scholar Preferences
Add libraries for full text linking
Metropolitan State University
Refworks

What Scholar Searches
Searches a much smaller universe of information than regular Google.
Citations from scholarly journals
Some
Conference proceedings
Reports
Government publications and Web sites
Books

What Scholar Doesn’t Search
Does not include:
All scholarly journals
Full text for all listed articles
Most of the citations and articles available via subscriptions purchased via libraries
Google does not disclose exactly what is included in Scholar.

Advanced Scholar Searching
Uses the same commands & modifiers as regular Google
“ ” for phrase searching
OR to broaden search to find related terms
- to exclude words
intitle: to find a word in a document title
Additional commands
author: to find articles by author name
Advanced search screen

Cited Reference Searching
One of the great strengths of Scholar.
If you find a great article on your topic, look to see what articles cite it.
Related articles also useful for finding articles on similar topics.

Cited reference searching - insert screen pritn

When to Search Elsewhere?
When completeness is important
When currency is important
When it will be more efficient to search a database that specializes in your subject
When you need the power and accuracy of searching with subject headings

Google Scholar Questions ?

Google Books
http://books.google.com/
Same commands work here
Additional options in Advanced Book Search
Four types
Full view
Limited preview
Snippet view
No preview

Screen print - advanced book search

About This Book
Complete citation information
Table of contents
Places to buy the book
Find this book in a library
www.worldcat.org

Google Books Questions ?

Google U. S. Government Search
www.google.com/ig/usgov
Searches all federal, state and city Web sites
Searches selected .com & .org
Great for finding government publications, many of which are published online only
Useful for finding information about legislation, public policy, etc.

Questions About Books & U. S. Government Search ?

Questions ?
Martha Hardy
Email: [email_address] .com
For supplementary information or to review this presentation, see: http: //extremegoogling . pbwiki .com/
Thank you!

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Extreme Googling: Tips & Tricks For Expert Searching

by Martha Hardy on Nov 10, 2008

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