BASIC SEARCH TECHNIQUES

Keyword Searching

• Definition: Keyword searching refers to the technique where users input important terms into a search engine's search box.

• Process: The search engine will then retrieve items that contain all the specified terms.

• Outcome: This process can yield millions of results, reflecting the vast amount of indexed information available on the internet.

Author / Title Searching

• Definition: Author or title searching provides a straightforward way to look for specific works by entering the author's name along with the title.

• Process: Users can type both the author's name and part of the book's title into the search box.

• Insight: Unless the advanced search feature of the search engine is used, this method essentially resembles keyword searching, as it involves searching for matches with both the author's name and the title of the book in the search query.

Phrase Searching

• Definition: Phrase searching is a method that allows users to find an exact phrase within their search results.

• Process: To perform a phrase search, the entire phrase is enclosed within quotation marks (" ").

• Impact: If the phrase is not accurately composed, or if the terms are not in the correct order, poor results may be returned to the user.

BOOLEAN OPERATORS

• Purpose: Boolean operators are used to refine and control search results. The following operators are commonly utilized:

  • AND:

  • Function: Combines multiple keywords, resulting in entries that include both terms.

  • Example: Searching for "Samuel AND Christian" will show results containing both terms.

  • OR:

  • Function: Retrieves results that contain at least one of the keywords.

  • Example: Searching for "Christian OR College" will yield results with either term.

  • NOT:

  • Function: Excludes results containing a specific term from the search results.

  • Example: Searching for "Samuel NOT College" will yield results that include "Samuel" but exclude anything related to "College."

  • Quotation Marks (""):

  • Function: Searches for the exact phrase as typed within the quotation marks.

  • Example: Searching for "Christian College" will return results containing this exact phrase only.

  • Parentheses ():

  • Function: Used to group keywords and determine the order of operations in searches.

  • Example: Searching for "(Samuel AND Christian) OR College" specifies that the search engine should first find results containing both "Samuel" and "Christian" before considering results for "College."

  • Asterisk (*):

  • Function: Acts as a wildcard to include variations of a keyword or to search for unknown terms.

  • Example: Searching for "Colleg*" may yield results for "College," "Collegiate," etc.

SEARCH FILTERS

Types of Search Filters

• Filters narrow down search results based on specific criteria, allowing more targeted searches. Examples include:

  • File Type: limits results to a specific document format such as PDF, DOC, PPT, etc.

  • Example: Searching for "research paper filetype:pdf" retrieves only PDF documents related to research papers.

  • Location: restricts results based on geographic criteria.

  • Date Range: results can be filtered by a particular time frame.

  • Usage Rights: identifies content based on copyright and permission settings (e.g. Creative Commons).

  • Domain: limits search results to a particular website's domain.

  • Example: Searching by "site:bdo.com" would restrict results to the BDO website.

  • Language: find results in a specific language.

SPECIFIC SEARCH TOOL EXAMPLES

Date Range Filtering

• Example Usage: Searches such as "Olympics before: 2006" or "Olympics after: 2006" allow users to find historical data within specific brackets.

Domain Filtering

• Example Usage: By using "site: bdo.com," users can restrict their search to content that is only available on the specified BDO website.

File Type Filtering

• Example Usage: For example, using "filetype:pdf stenography" retrieves results only in PDF format relating to stenography documents.

ADVANCED SEARCH SYNTAX

Title and URL Searches

• intitle:: Searches for terms strictly within the title of documents.

• allintitle:: Similar to intitle, but searches for multiple terms across the title.

• inurl:: Looks for a specific word or phrase within the URL.

• allinurl:: Searches for all individual terms in the URL of documents.

• intext:: Focuses search queries to appear only in the document body.

• allintext:: Similar to intext but searches for multiple terms appearing in the document body.

Miscellaneous Search Features

• AROUND(X): This operator returns results where two terms/phrases are located within a specified number of words from each other.

  • Example: "Tesla AROUND(3) Edison" would retrieve instances where the terms "Tesla" and "Edison" are mentioned within three words of each other.