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Search Tips & Tricks

How to maximize your search results in library databases and Google!

Google Better

The better you express what you're searching for, the more likely you are to find it.

Google and the academic databases to which the Library subscribes share some search strategies in common, while Google also has some that are unique. Use these tips to make Google work better for you.

 

Search Methods: Google and Academic Databases


Operators

Symbols to make your search more accurate, which can be used in most databases. Classic operators: and/or/or not

AND

AND brings back results that include both terms listed. However, Google reads "and" between all the words in a search string automatically, so you do not need to use it in a Google search.

OR

Expand your search to all of the results for your terms.

potato OR chip

NOT

- (minus) symbol: If you want to exclude a term, links, or sites to make your search results more specific to your needs.

potato -chip

 

Wildcards

While in many databases the asterisk allows for the searching of different spellings of a word (cat* = cat, cats, catch, etc), Google includes the different spellings automatically in a search, so the wildcard search here is for full words and terms rather than within a word.

* (asterisk)

Use as a place holder for an unknown word or term.

four *, seven years ago 

Exact Term

A search method you can use almost anywhere!

"Quotations"

Put quotes around a multi-word term brings back the exact quoted phrase in word order.

"potato chip"

Search Methods: Google Only

Important: Do not put a space between the operator and the search term, or Google won't interpret it correctly.


site:

Only search on certain sites. Use an asterisk to search for all sites with a particular domain.

potato site:nytimes  = Posts from the NY Times that mention the word potato

potato -site:wikipedia.org  = Results about potatoes but NOT any from wikipedia.org

potato site:*.gov  = Results about potatoes from government sites/agencies

 
link:

Search for sites that link to a certain URL.

link:stevens.edu


info:

Get information about the URL and related sites to your search. Can include cache information too.

potato info:fda.gov

 

filetype:

Look for a particular type of file like pdf, jpg, png, etc.

potato info:fda.gov filetype:pdf


Intitle: 

Look for a word in the title.

intitle:potato

 

@ #

Social media searches.

@scwlibrary

#stresslessatthelibrary

You can combine any of these operators with a space to get results.

Try these:

  • potato intitle:chip filetype:pdf

  • "potato chip" intitle:bag filetype:pdf

How Does Google Work?

Google's search engine is the result of years of work and refinement by the company.

Here's a short introduction to how it works (though with the very positive attitude you'd expect from a company talking about itself and not a lot of reflection).

Beyond Google

What do you want from a search engine?

Search engines beyond Google are out there! To find the best alternative for you, it's useful to consider what you want out of it, such as:

  • Data privacy
  • Ad blocking
  • The incorporation of artificial intelligence (or avoidance of it)
  • The sophistication of the search functionality
  • etc.

Review your options and try a sample search to see which works best for you.