Web search strategies: search engines
Search engines such as Google and Yahoo hold a lot of information, but not all of it will be relevant to your information need.
It is important to know how to refine your search to find the right information.
Here is a really useful video on how to search the web effectively. (http://www.commoncraft.com/video/web-search-strategies)
- The video explains:
- How search engines work - it's important to understand that a search engine will return every page that your search word appears on. The more times your word appears on a web page, the higher up it will appear on the results list.
- How to narrow a search - by being as specific as possible you will get the results you need. The more words you use, the easier it will be to find what you are looking for.
- How to use quotation (" ") marks to refine your search.
- How to use the minus sign (-) to narrow your search.
