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[HAL9000]

Performing an internet search is an action we take for granted. We perform them constantly but ineffectively and not to their full potential. Here are some good tips.

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STOP WORDS

Stop words are words that many search engines DON'T stop for when searching texts and titles on the web. In fact, in order to cut down on response time, these engines routinely ignore stop words, i.e., small and common words, such as parts of speech (adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, or forms of "to be"). Examples include: a, about, an, and, are, as, at, be, by, from, how, i, in, is, it, of, on, or, that, the, this, to, we, what, when, where, which, with, etc. Not all search engines recognize the same stop words. In addition, their lists can and do change frequently. If you initiate a search at a site that maintains a list of stop words and you type any of those words into your search statement (even in phrases surrounded by quotes), they may well continue to be ignored. An exception to this is Google, which has a stop word list but recognizes stop words within phrases surrounded by quotation marks, e.g., "to be or not to be" or "what you see is what you get".

CREATING A SEARCH STATEMENT

When structuring your query, keep the following tips in mind:

Be specific
EXAMPLE: Hurricane Hugo

Whenever possible, use nouns and objects as keywords
EXAMPLE: fiesta dinnerware plates cups saucers

Put most important terms first in your keyword list; to ensure that they will be searched, put a +sign in front of each one
EXAMPLE: +hybrid +electric +gas +vehicles

Use at least three keywords in your query
EXAMPLE: interaction vitamins drugs

Combine keywords, whenever possible, into phrases
EXAMPLE: "search engine tutorial"

Avoid common words, e.g., water, unless they're part of a phrase
EXAMPLE: "bottled water"

Think about words you'd expect to find in the body of the page, and use them as keywords
EXAMPLE: anorexia bulimia eating disorder

Write down your search statement and revise it before you type it into a search engine query box
EXAMPLE: +"south carolina" +"financial aid" +applications +grants


QUICK TIPS

NOTE: These tips will work with most search engines in their basic search option.
Use the plus (+) and minus (-) signs in front of words to force their inclusion and/or exclusion in searches.

EXAMPLE: +meat -potatoes
(NO space between the sign and the keyword)

Use double quotation marks (" ") around phrases to ensure they are searched exactly as is, with the words side by side in the same order.

EXAMPLE: "bye bye miss american pie"
(Do NOT put quotation marks around a single word.)

Put your most important keywords first in the string.

EXAMPLE: dog breed family pet choose

Type keywords and phrases in lower case to find both lower and upper case versions. Typing capital letters will usually return only an exact match.

EXAMPLE: president retrieves both president and President

Use truncation (or stemming) and wildcards (e.g., *) to look for variations in spelling and word form.

EXAMPLE: librar* returns library, libraries, librarian, etc.
EXAMPLE: colo*r returns color (American spelling) and colour (British spelling)

Combine phrases with keywords, using the double quotes and the plus (+) and/or minus (-) signs.

EXAMPLE: +cowboys +"wild west" -football -dallas
(In this case, if you use a keyword with a +sign, you must put the +sign in front of the phrase as well. When searching for a phrase alone, the +sign is not necessary.)

When searching within a document for the location of your keyword(s), use the "find" command on that page.

Know the default (basic) settings your search engine uses (OR or AND). This will have an effect on how you configure your search statement because, if you don't use any signs (+, -, " "), the engine will default to its own settings.

Know whether or not the search engine you are using maintains a stop word list. If it does, don't use known stop words in your search statement. Also, consider trying your search on another engine that does not recognize stop words.

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Quick Tips for Boolean Searches

In Boolean searches, always enclose OR statements in parentheses.

EXAMPLE: Yosemite (campgrounds OR reservations)
Always use CAPS when typing Boolean operators in your search statements. Most engines require that the operators (AND, OR, AND NOT/NOT) be capitalized. Other engines will accept either CAPS or lower case, so you're on safe ground if you stick to CAPS.

EXAMPLE: "immune system" AND homeopathic (medicine OR remedy)


WHAT'S A "BOOLEAN"?
Boolean logic takes its name from British mathematician George Boole (1815-1864), who wrote about a system of logic designed to produce better search results by formulating precise queries. He called it the "calculus of thought." From his writings, we have derived Boolean logic and its operators: AND, OR, and NOT, which we use to link words and phrases for more precise queries.

BOOLEAN "AND"

The Boolean AND actually narrows your search by retrieving only documents that contain every one of the keywords you enter. The more terms you enter, the narrower your search becomes.

EXAMPLE: truth AND justice
EXAMPLE: truth AND justice AND ethics AND congress

BOOLEAN "OR"

The Boolean OR expands your search by returning documents in which either or both keywords appear. Since the OR operator is usually used for keywords that are similar or synonymous, the more keywords you enter, the more documents you will retrieve.

EXAMPLE: college OR university
EXAMPLE: college OR university OR institution OR campus

BOOLEAN "NOT" / "AND NOT"

The Boolean NOT or AND NOT (sometimes typed as ANDNOT) limits your search by returning only your first keyword but not the second, even if the first word appears in that document, too.

EXAMPLE: saturn AND NOT car
EXAMPLE: pepsi AND NOT coke

NESTING -- WITH BOOLEAN OPERATORS

Nesting, i.e., using parentheses, is an effective way to combine several search statements into one search statement. Use parentheses to separate keywords when you are using more than one operator and three or more keywords.

EXAMPLE: (hybrid OR electric) AND (Toyota OR Honda)
(For best results, always enclose OR statements in parentheses.)

BOOLEAN LOGIC REDUX

Boolean logic is not always simple or easy. Different search engines handle Boolean operators differently. For example, some accept NOT, while one accepts ANDNOT as one word, others AND NOT as two words. Some require the operators to be typed in capital letters while others do not.
Some search engines use drop-down menu options to spell out the Boolean logic in short phrases. For example, "All of the words" or "Must contain" equates to AND; "Any of the words" or "Should contain" equates to OR; and "Must not contain" equates to NOT.

IMPLIED BOOLEAN OPERATORS

Implied Boolean operators use the plus (+) and minus (-) symbols in place of the full Boolean operators, AND and NOT. Typing a (+) or (-) sign in front of a word will force the inclusion or exclusion of that word in the search statement.

EXAMPLE: +dementia -alzheimers
Similarly, putting double quotation marks (" ") around two or more words will force them to be searched as a phrase in that exact order.

EXAMPLE: "green tea"
While full Boolean operators are usually accepted only in the advanced search option of search engines, implied Boolean operators are accepted in the basic search options of most search engines.

PROXIMITY OPERATORS

Proximity, or positional, operators (NEAR, ADJ, SAME, FBY) are not really part of Boolean logic, but they serve a similar function in formulating search statements.

Not all search engines accept proximity operators, but a few accept NEAR in their advanced search option. The NEAR operator allows you to search for terms situated within a specified distance of each other in any order. The closer they are, the higher the document appears in the results list. Using NEAR, when possible, in place of the Boolean AND usually returns more relevant results.

EXAMPLE: phylogeny NEAR ontogeny
EXAMPLE: de Vere NEAR Shakespeare

Even fewer search engines accept ADJ (adjacent to). ADJ works as a phrase except that the two terms, which must appear adjacent to each other in the webpage, can appear in any order.

EXAMPLE: Ernest ADJ Hemingway
EXAMPLE: endangered ADJ species

returns both Ernest Hemingway and Hemingway Ernest; endangered species and species endangered.

Other proximity operators, such as SAME (keywords found in the same field) and FBY (followed by), are used as advanced searching techniques in library and other specialized databases that contain bibliographic citations or references to journal articles, but are not yet employed by search engines.
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[|DRC| Iceman]

Great time saving tips! Thanks Hal!

[|DRC| Marblecake]

I usually use search engines to find random pics. Its hard to keep up with Wartex on the realm of odd and retarded pics/movies.

All I can say is watch the Priest and the Nun. OMFGROFL. See Wartex for this brilliant movie.
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"Shrink" Are you a assasin? "Me" Assasin sounds so exotic. Im just a murderer.

[HAL9000]

When it comes to searching for information I think we're all too used to google. I'm not saying google isn't good, but there are other options. Ever heard of metasearch engines?

http://www.ixquick.com/

http://vivisimo.com/

http://www.dogpile.com/

Like on Vivisimo, the "clustering" is awesome. Search something on there and you'll see what I mean.

Dogpile is one of the oldest search engines out there (I think its been active since about '96) and its also very useful.

Searching "quake 3" on vivisimo brings up this:

[Photek]

www.mamma.com
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In reallife I'm a perfectly sane person, I just like to make a fool out of myself to get some unwanted attention to get rid of.

[Cannonfodder]

i have used www.metacrawler.com since high school