Tips for Successful Web Searching
Adapted, with the authors' permission, from: Nims, Julia K. and Linda Rich, "How successfully do users search the Web?," College & Research Libraries News 59 (1998): 155-158.
In general:
- Always check for typos!
- Try searching for multiple terms or phrases rather than a single word.
- Read the search engine's help screens!
Web Search Engine Features
| Search Engine | AND, OR, NOT--(+/-) | Truncation | Phrase Searching | Upper/Lower Case | URL Searching |
| AltaVista www.altavista.com | +/- and, or, and not | use "*" | quotation marks | upper case retrieves exact match | yes (ex. u:image) |
| Excite www.excite.com | +/- AND, OR AND NOT (must be in caps) | no | quotation marks | matches capital letters | no |
| Google! www.google.com | Automatic AND, no OR, - | no | quotation marks | insensitive | yes (ex. link:www.google.com) |
| HotBot www.hotbot.com | +/- and, or, not | no | quotation marks | insensitive (except for "interesting cases") | no |
| Magellan www.magellan.excite.com | +/- AND, OR, AND NOT (must be in caps) | no | quotation marks | matches capital letters | no |
| Yahoo! www.yahoo.com | +/- and, or, not | use "*" | quotation marks | upper case retrieves exact match | yes(ex. u:image) |
For more information on successful web searching, see:
- Getting the Most out of Internet Search Engines
- http://osu.orst.edu/dept/isteach/class/engines.htm
- Searching the World Wide Web
- http://libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/searchweb/srchweb-info.html
- Librarians' Index to the Internet
- http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/InternetIndex
- Search Engine Reviews
- http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/index.php
