Latest update on Wednesday 19 October 2016 à 08:05 by Jean-François Pillou.
Because of how many web pages there are, it is necessary to use a tool to find a specific page which matches your search parameters: a search engine.
To use a search engine, simply type keywords (search terms) into the appropriate field, press enter, and wait for the results. Before doing so, you need to determine which kind of words you need to enter in order to have the best chance of finding the information you seek.
The engine searches pages which contain these terms, and pages which are linked to from other pages using hyperlinks containing these terms. However, a search's results may be totally different if the keywords used are separated by spaces, surrounded by quote marks, or divided using a specific operator. Therefore, it might be necessary to refine your search using additional keywords and special operators (the table below summarises the types of operators and their effects).
If the search engine finds no results and returns a message saying something like "Your search did not match any documents", you will need to expand the search by using different terms which have to do with the subject you're looking for, or remove some of the ones used.
If the opposite happens — too many results — you will need to narrow the search by adding restrictions, such as requiring that results contain only all of the words request, or by excluding certain words.
Search operators
Type of search
Request to enter
Proper noun
Type the name of the subject
Phrase
Type the phrase inside quote marks
"search phrase"
Containing all names
Use the AND or NEAR Boolean to limit the search:
+name1 +name2 +name3
Containing at least one of the names
Use the OR Boolean
name1 + name2 + name3
Not containing a word
Use the NOT Boolean
name1 + name2 -name3
Name with multiple
possible endings
Use truncating: name* the search engine will look for pages containing the words:
name, named, names, nameless, etc.
Uppercase
If you type a word in lowercase letters, the engine
will return both lowercase and uppercase results.
If you type in uppercase letters, the engine
will return only uppercase results.
An example search
Let's say that you want to search for web pages about attorney generals on the search engine Google.
If you type:
attorney general the engine will return all pages containing the word attorneyand all pages containing the word general (as well as some containing both words, of course, but they'll be lost among all the other documents)
Now type:
attorney generals This time, the engine only returns a limited number of pages, containing the word "attorney generals" (plural), as you have opted to leave out all the singular instances (attorney general)
By typing:
attorney general* You now have the words attorney general and attorney generals, but there's a problem: The search is leaving out all the pages which write attorney general as:
attorney-general
attorneys general
attorney-generals
attorneys-general
attorneys/general
and so on.
The issue, then, is finding a way to have return all possible usages. To do so,
type:
+attorney* +general* You'll get all the pages which contain at least one word that begins with both of the roots attorney and general/.
CONCLUSION: An optimal search must be tailored to meet your expectations; it's usually different from a basic search, but it saves you time!
Summary
Boolean Operator
Result
+name1 +name2
Returns documents containing both search terms
name1 + name2 or
name1 name2
Returns documents containing one (or both) of the two search terms
+name1 -name2
Returns documents which do not contain the word that follows the operator -
name*
Returns documents containing words similar to the search term
quote marks
Returns documents containing the whole phrase
Essential (+)
The symbol "+" indicates that a word must be found
This document, titled « Searching the Internet », is available under the Creative Commons license. Any copy, reuse, or modification of the content should be sufficiently credited to CCM (ccm.net).
