Better queries = Better results
Short tutorials!
GOOGLE BASICS 1
GOOGLE BASICS 2
GOOGLE ADVANCED 1
Eventhough they use them a bit differently, databases and search engines use Boolean operators: and, or, not.
Here is how you use the 3 operators in Google.
AND (click for example) - All the search terms must appear in the results entries
Google uses the implicit "and" because it is assumes you want all the words in your query.
You do not need to write the operator.
["climate change" canada]
OR (click for example) - Either one of the terms on either side of the operator will be searched
In Google you must capitalize OR. If you don't it will be seen as a dead word.
["global warming" OR "climate change"]
NOT (click for example) - Excludes a term you don't want in your results
Use the minus sign attached to the word to be excluded from your results.
[depression -treatments]
"phrase searching" (click for example)
To find phrases put the search terms between double quotation marks. The terms will be searched as is, in the order they appear between the quotation marks. Search engines accept phrase searching.
E.g., "eating disorders", "once upon a time", "american school of paris"
site:x (click for example)
Use [site:x] in Google to restrict your search to specified sites.
E.g.
Domain extensions: [site:edu], [site:gov], etc.
Country extensions: [site:ca], [site:fr], etc.
Full sites: [site:youtube.com], [site:nytimes.com], etc.
filetype:x (click for example)
Using [filetype:x] will restrict your results to the desired file format.
E.g.
Document type: [filetype:pdf], [filetype:jpg], [filetype:ppt], [filetype:xls], etc.
You can limit your search to sites with a specific word in the title.
E.g.
[intitle:"eating habits"] will find the phrase "eating habits" in the title of the web site. (click for example).
"inurl" searches allow you to search terms in the address of the website (the URL).
You can't search terms in more than one domain. You can search for [energy site:gov] and you can search for [energy site:fr], but you can't search for [energy site:gov site:fr].
To include a site with both a government extension and a country extension, do an "inurl" search, meaning your search terms will be included in the address (url) of the website.
Example: [energy inurl:gov inurl:fr]
[define:x] will search for online definitions of your term.
E.g., [define:tube] (click).
The result will be shown in a box at the top of your search results.
Add the word [study] or [research] or ["primary sources"] (click) to your query to focus your search on primary sources.
Add [table] or [statistics] or [graph] or [spreadsheet] to retrieve statistical information.
'ctl F' (PC) or 'command F' (mac)' finds the occurrence of a word in a page.
'ctl G' (PC) or 'command G' (mac) finds the next occurrence in a page (or use the 'enter' key).