This report discusses search operators that can help optimize online research. It introduces five main search operators: quotation marks, which search exact phrases; wildcard searches using *; excluding words using -; defining a term using :; and requiring words using +. Examples of each are provided. The summary explains that search operators allow gathering relevant information instead of unrelated content, and make researching topics more accurate and efficient. While search operators took some getting used to, they are useful for finding correct information on specific topics.

1. By Munpreet Marbay
Search Operators
Report

2. By Munpreet Marbay
Content
Introduction……………………………………………Page 3
Examples of Search operators…………………….Page 4,5
Summary………………………………………………Page 6
Conclusion…………………………………………….Page 6
Bibliography………………………………………….Page7

3. By Munpreet Marbay
Introduction
This report will cover the various search techniques that can
benefit the user when researching different topics. There are 5
main techniques that can optimise research; this report will
include various examples.
Search operators are used to narrow down specific terms or even
broaden the term to make researching easier.

4. By Munpreet Marbay
Examples of Search Operators
1) Quotation marks: (“____”)
Quotation marks are used to search words as a specific phrase,
so when researching the phrase within the quotation marks will
be searched together rather than separate.
Examples: “Boris Johnson”, “Galaxy Chocolate”, “Brown Bags”
2) Wild Card Search (*)
When researching we may forget part of the phrases or words,
so using the Wild Card symbol allows you to research relevant
content online if you have forgotten parts of the phrase or letter
when spelling.
Examples: “Azerba*”: Azerbaijan, “Wh*”: When, Where, who
3) Excluding Words (-)
When researching, we could find information we do not
need, so a good technique of researching is using the minus
symbol to exclude any words you don’t want to search.
Examples: “Hotels –UK”, “Women’s Shoes –Yellow”, “Mini
Cooper –Blue”

5. By Munpreet Marbay
4) Defining a Term (:)
When trying to define a word, it is quicker to use the define
symbol instead of writing out a sentence. When using search
engines such as Google, Google will have their own
definition.
Examples: “Define:blog”, “Define:Irony”, “Define:Dibersity”
5) Required Words (+)
When searching, we may get unwanted information, to save
time and look for the related content you need the required
word symbol makes searching quick, as it searched the
required word within the search engine.
Examples: “Horse+farm”, “Hotels +USA”, “Coffe+Costa”

6. By Munpreet Marbay
Summary
Search operators are an efficient technique when
researching a particular topic as it allows you to gather the
relevant information rather than scrolling through
Unrelated information. “Wild Card” search operator helps
users to gather relevant content if they have forgotten the
specific term or spelling. “Quotation Marks” tells the search
engine to search the phrase together rather than the
separate. “Excluding Words”, helps the user to search certain
content without having a specific word when researching.
“Defining a word”, this technique allows the user to search a
definition quickly without having to type the sentence within
Google. “Required Words” this helps the user to gather
specific information using the key words.
Conclusion
Having used the search operators for the first time, I found
using them a bit tedious, as I have never needed to use them
when researching a particular topic, also to benefit from
using the search operators, you would have to learn them.
However they are useful when researching certain topics and
also make researching more accurate, so gathering the
correct information is simple.

7. By Munpreet Marbay
Bibliography
http://jwebnet.net/advancedgooglesearch.html
https://support.google.com/vault/answer/2474474?hl=en
http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html
http://www.open.ac.uk/infoskills-researchers/search-techniques.htm

8. By Munpreet Marbay