The internet and web have allowed us to look up information and communicate in new ways. But with so much information right at our fingertips, how can we sort through it and make sure that we find what we need? That’s where a research plan comes into play! A research plan can help us organize a topic that we want to research by guiding our internet search. Search Strategies But before we make a research plan, let’s go over some common search strategies that will help us use search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo more effectively: Don’t use unnecessary words—keep it simple. The search engine only searches for keywords and ignores the rest. Instead of “What time is it in Australia?” search “time in Australia.” Spelling doesn’t matter, as long as you’re close. If you type “Matthew McConahee,” the search engine will figure out that you mean “Matthew McConaughey.” Use quotes to search for exact words. Searching for white kitten sweaters will return different results than putting quotes around “white kitten sweaters.” The search engine will only return websites with those words in that exact order. Use Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT.

Question

The internet and web have allowed us to look up information and communicate in new ways. But with so much information right at our fingertips, how can we sort through it and make sure that we find what we need? That’s where a research plan comes into play! A research plan can help us organize a topic that we want to research by guiding our internet search. Search Strategies But before we make a research plan, let’s go over some common search strategies that will help us use search engines like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo more effectively: Don’t use unnecessary words—keep it simple. The search engine only searches for keywords and ignores the rest. Instead of “What time is it in Australia?” search “time in Australia.” Spelling doesn’t matter, as long as you’re close. If you type “Matthew McConahee,” the search engine will figure out that you mean “Matthew McConaughey.” Use quotes to search for exact words. Searching for white kitten sweaters will return different results than putting quotes around “white kitten sweaters.” The search engine will only return websites with those words in that exact order. Use Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT.

Answer 1

Boolean operators are useful for refining search results.

- AND: Use "AND" to narrow down search results by including multiple keywords. For example, searching "cats AND dogs" will return results that include both cats and dogs.
- OR: Use "OR" to expand search results by including either of multiple keywords. For example, searching "cats OR dogs" will return results that include either cats or dogs.
- NOT: Use "NOT" to exclude specific keywords from search results. For example, searching "cats NOT dogs" will exclude results that mention dogs.

These operators can be combined to create complex search queries and further refine search results. For example, searching "cats AND (black OR white) NOT dogs" will return results that include cats, either black or white, but exclude any mention of dogs.

By using these search strategies and incorporating them into a research plan, we can effectively sort through the vast amount of information available on the internet and find exactly what we need.