b-search-control.doc

How to Control a Search Engine

There are many different search engines. The top three at this time are those provided by Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft - no two function exactly alike and they do produce different results.

Nonetheless, there are some general rules that can be used to help in your web searching.

1) All search engines provide a box in which you type in your search request and a button labeled “Go” or “Search” or equivalent on which you click to activate your search.

2) The logical expressions “AND”, “OR”, & “NOT” can be used to narrow the scope of your search. For example, a request of “cats AND dogs” will cause only web page results to be presented which contain both the words “cats” and “dogs” whereas a request for “cats OR dogs” will present web page results which contain either one or both the words. Similarly, a request for “cats NOT dogs” will eliminate web pages that contain the word “dogs”. At the current time, all major search engines automatically insert the word “AND” between search arguments. ie. If you search for “cats dogs”, it will automatically be searched as “cats AND dogs”.

Note: the logical expressions “AND”, “OR”, & “NOT” are always written in caps and are always preceded and followed by a space.

3) An alternative way to narrow the scope of your search is to use the “+” and “-” symbols. For example a request of “+cats +dogs” will cause only web page results to be presented which contain both the words “cats” and “dogs”. A request of “+cats -dogs” will eliminate web pages that contain the word “dogs”.

Note: when the symbols “+” and “-” are used, they must immediately precede the search word with no intervening space.

4) All the major search engines allow you to combine search words into phrases by enclosing them in double quotes. For example a request for “a dog is man’s best friend” will require that the entire expression exactly as written (spaces, apostrophe, and all) must be found on a web site in order for it to be presented by the search engine.

5) The use of the above logical expressions, symbols, and double quotes can be combined in one search argument. Remember the idea is to find what you’re looking for without having to read thru what you are not interested in, ie. to separate the wheat from the chaff.

6) Some contain a feature called “advanced search” or something similar which, when clicked on, will provide information about how that search engine works, tips on how to best use it and usually an alternative way to search by filling in boxes. Be sure to check out this valuable feature.

For further study about how search engines work, see: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html

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