Best Bet Search Tips

Here is a quick summary of best bet tips for putting together a search on a Web search engine.

~ Most search engines default to Boolean AND logic. To create a search that will retrieve Web pages containing all of your search terms, type the words with a space in between them. Example: bears hibernation

~ Use a plus sign (+) to further focus a Boolean AND search. On Google, for example, use of the plus sign will turn off the feature that may include a search for synonyms of your search terms. On other search engines, the plus sign is a kind of insurance that AND logic will be applied. Example: +desert +horticulture

~ Include synonyms or alternate spellings in your search statements and connect these words with Boolean OR logic. OR logic will allow you to retrieve documents containing one or more of your search terms. Search engines are not consistent in the way they want an OR search to be typed out (for example, Google requires that OR be capitalized), so it's usually best to fill out the form on the advanced search page and let the search engine do the rest. Example: college OR university

~ For a Boolean NOT search, place a minus sign (-) in front of the word you want to exclude from your search results. Example: apple -computer

To summarize:

These search statements	Will retrieve...
World War I AND World War II	pages containing both these terms
World War I OR World War II	pages containing at least one of these terms
World War I NOT World War II	pages containing the term World War I but not also the term World War II

~ Surround a phrase with quotation marks. Example: "freedom of the press"

~ Use the advanced search page when you want to do a focused search. The advanced search page is a good way to limit your results in various ways, including words in the title, date, language, file type, site, etc. The advanced search page is great to try out because it shows you the types of searches the search engine can do for you.

~ If your search results look too general for what you want, try these techniques:

Add another concept with AND logic
Use vocabulary that is specific to your topic, e.g., "Honda" rather than "cars"
Link search terms with the plus sign (+) to ensure that AND logic is applied to the words that you typed
Narrow your search to various fields, for example, words in the title, date, site, etc., easy to do on an advanced search page
Use the Boolean NOT to keep out pages containing words you don't want

~ If your search results look too narrow or limited for what you want, try these techniques:

Drop off the least important concept(s) to broaden your subject
Use more general vocabulary
Add alternate terms or spellings for individual concepts and connect with the Boolean OR
Don't use field searching

~ Finally, keep this general search advice in mind:

If you're not sure how to use a particular search engine, read the Help pages. With just a few minutes of effort, you can be on your way to conducting an effective search.
Check your spelling.
Take advantage of capitalization if the search engine is case sensitive. Hint: Google is not case sensitive.
If your results are not satisfactory, repeat the search using alternative words.
Experiment with different search engines. No two search engines retrieve results from the same index or return identical results. For example, try search engines that display results organized by concept, or search engines that search multiple engines simultaneously. Check out The World of Search Engines for more information.
Try different sources to diversify your results. Sources can include subject directories, research sites such as Google Scholar or Google Books, etc. See the tutorials The World of Subject Directories and Finding Scholarly Content.