Google Pointers to Make You Ogle

Connie Ury, B.D. Owens Library

Strengths

• One of the largest search engines– Includes docs, pdfs & graphics

• Cached archive of Web pages as they looked when indexed—so the page may have changed when you retrieve it

• Relevance based on sites’ linkages & authority as defined by Google

• Additional databases: Scholar, Groups, Books, News, Directory

Weaknesses

• Limited search features– No nesting (putting synonyms in parentheses)

– limited Boolean (no AND, can use OR)

– no truncation (no word stemming)

• Only indexes 1st 101 kb of a Web page & 1st 120 kb of a pdf (you may miss details of larger documents)

• May search for plural/singular, synonyms, and grammatical variants without telling you

• Not as comprehensive as its reputation

Boolean & Other Tricks• Enclose phrases in quotation marks

"voice over internet protocol”• Automatically assumes AND between search terms

"voice over internet protocol" "federal communications commission"• + will force it to search for stop words (for, a, the) or for exact

terms without variants or singular/plural

"voice over internet protocol" "federal communications commission" +taxes

• Use an * for missing words in a phrase

"voice over internet protocol" "federal communications commission" * taxes

• Use a ~ for synonyms or variants

"voice over internet protocol" "federal communications commission" * taxes

• Use a – to eliminate words

"voice over internet protocol" "federal communications commission" -taxes

Narrowing Your Search

• intitle: intitle: “voice over internet protocol”

• Add ideas

intitle: “voice over internet protocol” "federal communication commission"

application case studies examples implementation

reviews analysis models illustrations

benefits advantages disadvantages liabilities

Another Alternative

• Google Scholar

intitle:“gestural interfaces”

• Use Google Scholar to locate articles from databases that are not available at our library—Search for the title of the article in quotation marks after the intitle: command