Searching the Internet 'techniques'.
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This document provides techniques for effectively searching the internet, including brainstorming search terms, using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) for more specific searches, truncation to include related terms, and phrase searching using quotation marks. Brainstorming involves identifying main ideas and related words to define the search topic. Boolean operators allow combining or excluding terms to narrow (AND, NOT) or broaden (OR) results. Truncation with symbols like * finds all word endings. Phrases within quotes searches for exact phrases together rather than separate words.
Searching the Internet 'techniques'.
- 1. Searching The Internet “Techniques”
- 2. Brainstorming To defining your search term you must do some
- 3. What is brainstorming? Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution to a problem . The method was first popularized in the late 1930s by Alex Faickney Osborn , an advertising executive and one of the founders of BBDO , in a book called Applied Imagination (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming)
- 4. How to brainstorm? Identify the main ideas/keywords in your research question Write down all the words that come to your mind that relate to your search term
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- 6. Main Idea global warming Synonym(s) greenhouse effect  Broader environment environmental problems ecology Narrower air pollution aerosol sprays car fumes smog CFCs Related hole in the ozone layer climate change
- 7. Using search tools 1. Boolean operators 2. Truncation 3. Parentheses 4. Phrase Searching
- 8. Boolean operators The Boolean words, also known as Boolean operators, are AND, OR, and NOT. They were devised by Mr. George Boole, a mathematician living in England during the 1800s.
- 9. AND Women AND Education AND tells the computer to look for any article or web page that contains both of these words. AND is the Boolean operator to use when you need to be more specific and/or narrow your search results.
- 10. UN OR United Nations OR tells the computer that it should look for articles or web pages that contain one or the other (or both) of these words. Therefore, the computer might find an article that mentions the word UN , but doesn't use the word United Nations . Or, it might find something that contains the word United Nations, but not UN. Finally, it might find an article that contains both of these keywords. OR is the most all-inclusive Boolean operator and is good to use if you are trying to link synonyms or similar ideas and/or expand your search. Remember: "OR means MORE"
- 11. Sudan NOT Africa NOT tells the computer to find all articles/web pages that contain the keyword Sudan, but to exclude any that also have the word Africa. NOT is the Boolean operator to use if you are trying to exclude certain ideas/keywords from your search. It also narrows your search results. Here's another example of when you could use NOT: If you wanted to search for information on plants (green, living biological organisms) but you keep getting articles and web sites that talk about power plants, you could use NOT: plants NOT power
- 12. Truncation *"Truncation" means to cut something off or to make it shorter. * When we search, we use truncation to help us find more information using a single keyword * The truncation symbol * tells the computer to find all possible endings for a particular word root.
- 13. Here is an example of a truncated keyword: child* If you type in the truncated keyword child* , the computer will find all of the following words: child child ren child hood child ish child like
- 14. * ? ! So far in our lessons and examples, we have used the asterisk * as the truncation symbol. Most of the time, the asterisk will work. However, depending on how the database or search engine has been designed, sometimes the truncation symbol may be a question mark ? or an exclamation mark !  instead. Â
- 15. Parentheses Another way you can control how the computer searches is to use parentheses or brackets ( ). Here is an example of using parentheses when you are searching (girls OR boys) AND mathematics AND learning nesting .
- 16. Phrase Searching The final search technique you will need to understand is phrase searching Use quotation marks ( " " ) around phrases that you want to keep together. For example, when searching for the phrase learning disabilities , you should type ... "learning disabilities" ...if you want the computer to find these two words together, side by side.Â