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
499,000

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

unwanted words: shuttle film movie

Reasons
The first search shows only
what? And excludes what?
The first search shows Atlantis
Continent, but excludes shuttle,
film, and movie.

Find web pages that have...

all these words: Atlantis

82,200,000

Find web pages that have...

all these words: Greenville

1,530,000

one or more of these words: Maine ME

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

Find web pages that have...

all these words: Greenville

68,900,000

this exact wording or phrase: San Diego State

University

8,260,000

Find web pages that have...

all these words: San Diego State University

53,000,000

The second one has more hits

because we didnt exclude
words.
The first search shows only
what? And excludes what?
Shows Greenville, Maine ME,
and excludes South Carolina
SC.

The second one has more hits

because It is not excluding
any results.

The second one has more hits

because It is looking for more
than just San Diego State
University, but the entire topic.

this exact wording or phrase: Bill 602P

920
this exact wording or phrase: the recent online
hoax

this exact wording or phrase: demonstrating

genuine leadership

1,200

this exact wording or phrase: Jenny kissed me

when we met

3,640

What do these searches show?

These searches show, that when
narrowed down, there are a lot
less results to specific phrases.

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

49

Find pages that link to the page:

www.edutopia.org

579

These are different because...

There are a lot of pages that
lead to the website, but not as
many pages are similar to that
one page.

0
Find pages similar to the page:
kids.msfc.nasa.gov
Find pages that link to the page:
kids.msfc.nasa.gov

These two are not different,

because there is no such site
that leads you to this one 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 advanced searches are important to me, because they help me save time, energy,
effort, and they keep me from getting mad at not finding what I need. For example, if I am looking
for a movie poster, these options help me, by getting to the exact movie poster I am looking for,
without all the hassle.