#1: Use the plus (+) and minus
(-) signs before words to force their inclusion (+) or exclusion
(-) in the search. Do not put a space between the sign and the
keyword. For example: +new +york +city or +new +york +state
-city
#2: Use double quotation marks (" ") around a
phrase to ensure it is searched exactly as is, with the words side
by side in the same order. Do not put quotation marks around a
single word. For example: "global warming"
#3: Put your most important keywords first.
#4: Type keywords and phrases in lower case to
find both lower and upper case versions. Typing capital letters
will usually return only an exact match.
#5: Use truncation and wildcards to look for
variations in spelling and word form (Check the search engine
you're using to see what symbol is used for truncation and/or
wildcard searches). For example: govern* would find the words
govern, government, governing, governmental, etc. while wom*n would
find both woman and women.
#6: Combine phrases with keywords, using the
double quotes and the plus (+) and/or minus (-) signs. In this
case, if you use a keyword with a +sign, you must put the +sign in
front of the phrase as well. When searching for a phrase alone, the
+sign is not necessary. For example: +Aretha +Franklin +"Queen of
Soul"
#7: When searching a document for the location of
your keywords, use the "find" command on that page (usually Ctrl +
F).
#8: Know the default (basic) settings your search
engine uses (OR or AND). This will have an effect on how you
configure your search statement because, if you don't use any signs
(+ -""), the search engine will default to its own settings.
#9: Know whether or not the search engine you are
using maintains a stop word list. Stop words are usually common
words (a, an, the, its, etc.) that are ignored. If it does, don't
use known stop words in your search statement.
#10: Use Boolean Operators. Using Boolean
operators (AND, OR, NOT) with search engines is not always simple
or easy. Different search engines handle Boolean operators
differently. For example, some accept NOT, some accept ANDNOT as
one word, others AND NOT as two words. Some require the operators
to be typed in capital letters while others do not. Some basic
rules help, though:
- AND narrows your search by retrieving only documents that
contain every one of the keywords you enter. The more terms you
enter, the narrower your search becomes.
- OR expands your search by returning documents in which
either or both keywords appear. Since the OR operator is usually
used for keywords that are similar or synonymous, the more keywords
you enter, the more documents you will retrieve.
- The Boolean NOT or AND NOT limits your search by returning
only your first keyword but not second, even if the first word
appears in that document, too.
|