Advanced Google Searching MCC Library Central
Study Skills Series
How to get the best from our favourite search engine A simple search for something like lung cancer rates or the population of Bury gives a vast amount of information it is going to take ages to plough through. It has been said that there are as many answers to the population of Bury as there are people living there!
Click on Advanced Search to see how we can focus
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http://library.midchesh.ac.uk http://pcbooker.midchesh.ac.uk http://librarycentralmcc.blogspot.co.uk/
Any queries please contact: library@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720646 winsfordlibrary@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720652
Advanced Google Searching MCC Library Central
Study Skills Series
Looks for pages with all the words you key in – similar to general search
Will include words not usually used in the exact order you key in. You can put your phrase in “ “ in the basic search too. You can suggest alternatives here. OR (in caps) can be used between alternative words in the basic search too You can exclude words that are finding results on a different topic here. You can look for results in other languages If you need to be up to date you can choose how old the pages are here You choose .ac or .edu for education, .gov for government; .uk or .nz etc for different countries For a tighter focus just search the titles of pages Are you looking for powerpoint slides or .pdf?
http://library.midchesh.ac.uk http://pcbooker.midchesh.ac.uk http://librarycentralmcc.blogspot.co.uk/
Any queries please contact: library@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720646 winsfordlibrary@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720652
Advanced Google Searching MCC Library Central
Study Skills Series
Try these techniques on some searches of your own. For this help sheet we’re going to look at lung cancer rates using an academic site in the UK and look for only powerpoint presentations.
http://library.midchesh.ac.uk http://pcbooker.midchesh.ac.uk http://librarycentralmcc.blogspot.co.uk/
Any queries please contact: library@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720646 winsfordlibrary@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720652
Advanced Google Searching MCC Library Central
Study Skills Series Your results should give you the following:
With all searches you need to answer the key questions What? Who? Why? When? Where? What is the information you need? Who has written is - are they knowledgeable? Anyone can say anything on the Internet Why have they written it - is it opinion based or factual; or even a spoof? When was it written? Does your information need to be up to date? Where is the site based? Does the nationality of the information matter?
Helpful Commands You can add a variety of commands to the general search box to improve your results: Exact Phrase (use quotes) e.g. “blogging in education” Excluded Words (-) e.g. blogging –education http://library.midchesh.ac.uk http://pcbooker.midchesh.ac.uk http://librarycentralmcc.blogspot.co.uk/
Any queries please contact: library@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720646 winsfordlibrary@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720652
Advanced Google Searching MCC Library Central
Study Skills Series Included Words (+) e.g. blogging +university Multiple words (OR) e.g. fashion blog OR podcast Similar words (~) e.g. blogger ~tips (will also find help guide etc) Site Specific (Site:) e.g. fashion blog OR podcast site:.ac.uk global warming site:.edu Filetype (filetype:) e.g. blogger ~tips filetype:.pdf Linked pages (link:) e.g. link:www.midchesh.ac.uk Words in Title (allintitle:) e.g. allintitle:blogging university Words in URL (allinurl:) e.g. allinurl:radio college Dictionary (define:) e.g. define:podcast Calculator e.g. 28%*5 Time e.g. time caracas Weather e.g. weather Cincinnati Conversions – just a few examples (experiment with others) 61f in c 3lb in kg 75in in m 1 cup in teaspoon 175£ in USD 100$ in £ 1 week in seconds 96km in miles http://library.midchesh.ac.uk http://pcbooker.midchesh.ac.uk http://librarycentralmcc.blogspot.co.uk/
Any queries please contact: library@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720646 winsfordlibrary@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720652
Advanced Google Searching MCC Library Central
Study Skills Series Wildcard search (*) e.g. the capital of Venezuela is * Postcode location e.g. cw81lj Public Data e.g. population Belgium unemployment rate Netherlands Blog Search Terms (from http://blogsearch.google.com) Inblogtitle:searchstring Inposttitle:searchstring Blogurl:urlname (e.g. paris blogurl:wordpress.com)
Advanced Image Search If you need an image to be decent quality at full screen (e.g. for a Powerpoint or PhotoStory slide) select images then choose Advanced Image Search by clicking on and specify the image size required i.e. any size; large; medium; larger than ‌..).
http://library.midchesh.ac.uk http://pcbooker.midchesh.ac.uk http://librarycentralmcc.blogspot.co.uk/
Any queries please contact: library@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720646 winsfordlibrary@midchesh.ac.uk 01606 720652