Better Searching

Directions and Worksheet

This worksheet is designed to help you record your answers as you explore advanced Internet
searching techniques and think about why the number of hits came out as they did. Before getting
started, make sure your advanced search options are completely visible.
This link will take you directly to Google Advanced Search.
Go to
http://www.google.com/advance
d_search

When searching on your own, you can type advanced search into the
search bar of any browser and the first link will be to Google Advanced
Search.
Another option when using Google is to conduct a search then scroll to
the bottom of the first search results screen where youll find a link to
Advanced Search.

This window opens, but does

not include all the options
available for advanced
searching.
To access the other options,
see below.

If you scroll down the page,

youll see a set of links under
the heading You can also
Follow the link titled Find pages
that are similar to or link to a
URL.
Now youre ready to refine your
search.

Directions: The column on the left tells what to search for and how to search for it. Record the
number of hits you get in the Matches column. Explain what contributed to the number of hits in the
Reasons column. The space in the column will expand as you type.

Question
Find web pages that have...
all these words: Atlantis continent

# Matches
1,070,000

But don't show pages that have...any of these

unwanted words: shuttle film movie

Find web pages that have...

all these words: Atlantis

130,000,000

Find web pages that have...

all these words: Greenville

12,600,000

Reasons
The first search shows only
what? And excludes what? It
only shows pages with Atlantis
continent in it. It excludes any
pages that have the words
shuttle, film, or movie.
The second one has more hits
because It is much less
specific
The first search shows only
what? And excludes what? It
only shows results with
Greenville Maine in them.

one or more of these words: Maine ME

But don't show pages that have...
any of these unwanted words: South Carolina SC

It excludes anything having to

do with South Carolina.

Find web pages that have...

all these words: Greenville

120,000,000

this exact wording or phrase: San Diego State

University

5,470,000

Find web pages that have...

all these words: San Diego State University

6,650,000

The second one has more hits

because It is way less
specific

The second one has more hits

because It can have the
words in any order unlike the
first.

this exact wording or phrase: Bill 602P

13,100
this exact wording or phrase: the recent online
hoax

92

this exact wording or phrase: demonstrating

genuine leadership

3,350

this exact wording or phrase: Jenny kissed me

when we met

36,500

Page-specific tools:
Find pages similar to the page:
www.edutopia.org

49

Find pages that link to the page:

www.edutopia.org

580

What do these searches show?

These searches show when you
look for exact wording or
phrasing you dont get much
results.

These are different because...

The first one shows pages like
the one in the link, and the other
one shows pages that somehow
link to the page.

11
Find pages similar to the page:
kids.msfc.nasa.gov
Find pages that link to the page:
kids.msfc.nasa.gov

324

These are different because...

The first one shows pages like
the one in the link, and the other
one shows pages that somehow
link to the page.

Reflection: Please reflect on what you learned while completing this assignment.
Why are these advanced, Internet searching techniques important to you? Support your ideas with
specific examples.
These Internet searching techniques are important to me because they allow me to
make my searches specific and help me find web pages that I am looking for. For example if
I was looking for information about a hotdog party near me, I could put the info I knew about
it in advanced search and it would help me find it. This is why these techniques are
important to me.