How
To ~ Use a Search Engine
| A Search Engine compares the words you enter
to search its vast listing of webpages and shows you the pages that most closely match
your search criteria. Choose your criteria wisely to avoid wading through a quagmire of
time-wasting close, but not close enough information. The table below shows how being more
specific reduces the number of webpages returned "Hits." |
| Search criteria |
Hits |
Reason |
| NASA |
756,300 |
popular topic |
| NASA Space Shuttle |
4,491,612 |
3 individual searches |
| "NASA Space Shuttle" |
57,196 |
" " treats string as
one word |
| "NASA Space Shuttle Columbia" |
6,544 |
more specific search |
| "NASA Space Shuttle Columbia experiments" |
2,228 |
still more specific |
| (actual search results using
Hotbot on Jan. 22, 1999) |
- Performing the search
- If you're not sure, start with a directory service such as
Yahoo. If your topic is narrow try a two or three word search.
Check out the Help or Search Tips to minimize waiting time.
Use a meta search engine to filter too many results.
(Search Engine index)
- Meta Search Engines
- A search engine that submits your query to multiple search
engines simultaneously, removes duplication, priorizes most useful results, but takes
longer.
- Boolean Searches
- AND, OR, NOT can be used between search words to
limit or expand your search results.
+
(or space) is a short form of AND
- is a short form of NOT
" " around all words is like AND between each word.
* is
a wild card - *ball yields baseball, basketball, etc.
AND and NOT are evaluated first. Like math, brackets can be
used to change the priority eg:(German or Italian) AND Language.
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