Searching Tips and Tricks

GRREC Web Searching--Tips and Tricks

Here are some tricks to help you in your web searching. These tips are tailored to work on Google and all will work in combination with each other..

Modifier	For?	Example	Effect?
+, -	Including or excluding terms. The must be a space between terms, but not e a space between the modifier and the term being modified.	jefferson +mazzei -january	This will only return results that have jefferson and mazzei and not january in them.
site:	Narowing your search to certain sites. Again, note spacing.	jefferson site:.edu -site:wku.edu	This will return results that have jefferson, but only on sites that end in .edu, excluding wku.edu.
quotes	Narrowing your search to a particular phrase.	jefferson +"has wonderfully changed since you left us"	This will only return results where the word jefferson and the quoted phrase appear in the same document. Add site:.edu to narrow it further.
filetype	Allows you to search for specific types of files.	filetype:ppt "thomas jefferson"	This will return PowerPoint presentations related to Thomas Jefferson. Works with any file type, including doc, xls, pdf, and many others.
~	Modifies a term so you can search on synonyms.	jefferson ~revolution	Returns pages with jefferson and revolution, but also jefferson and war, revolutionary, and other sysnonyms for revolution.
\| (this key is found above the 'Enter' key)	Same as using the word "OR"	jefferson madison\|washington +mazzei	Returns pages with jefferson and mazzei, and either madison OR washington.
define	Allows you to use Google as a dictionary.	define:revolution	Returns a list of definitions for the word "revolution" from various webpages.
*	The asteriks is a "wildcard" that substitutes for the unknown. Itallows you to search for words when you don't know exactly what you are looking for.	jefferson slave*	Returns pages with jefferson and slavery, jefferson and slave, jefferson and slaveholder, and any other variant of the word slave.
* (cont'd)	The wildcard can be used within interesting combinations.	jefferson +"has * changed since you * us"	Returns the exact same results as if you had remembered the entire phrase.
intitle:	Allows you to narrow the results by what appears in the title of the webpage, way up at top. Can help you narrow down webpages to only those specifically about a subject.	jefferson intitle:"thomas jefferson"	Returns webpages about jefferson, but only those where the phrase "thomas jefferson" appears in the title.
inurl:	Restricts the search by what appears in the url.Helpful if you've seen something on a site, but you can't remember the exact url.Can be used with the minus sign to exlude sites and page types.	jefferson inurl:virginia	Returns webpages about jefferson, but only those where the word "virginia" appears in the url.