Just Google It!
Narrowing Searches in Google
Baseball Pitcher or Lemonade Pitcher?
Have you ever searched for something only to find a ton of results that don’t actually have the answer to your question? Take a look at Soloman. He has a similar problem.
Think about Soloman's steps.
- What information are you looking for?
- What words are important to use in your search? (keywords)
- Try it out.
- Evaluate your results
- Refine your search if needed.
Tips for Refining Your Search
Did you have too many results, or the wrong information?
Add more keywords.
If you are looking for the most popular dog breed in the U.S., try searching the words dog breed popular U.S.A.
Search for an exact phrase using "quotation marks."
Use quotation marks to search for the words in the exact order. For example, use "one small step for man."
Eliminate results from a search using the dash -.
If you are looking for stats on baseball pitchers, you might include -container (no space between the dash and the word to eliminate) to eliminate any results about a pitcher that holds liquid.
More Tips
Did you have too few results?
Use the word OR if either word could be used.
For example, search "Dr. Seuss" OR "Theodor Geisel".
Try using synonyms.
If looking for information about cows, I might use the word cattle instead.
Still confused? Here are a couple of videos that put it all together.
Web Search Strategies in Plain English
How Search Works