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Here is a free sample from one
of 13 lessons that will teach you the basics of the
Google search engine:
With Google you don't have to use the "+"
sign but it can be very useful to use the "-"
sign to eliminate three things from your search:
- unwanted topics
- confusing words
- certain websites.
8A. Eliminate topics
Let's say you want some information on the ancient
Buddhist statues in Afghanistan. Click
here to open up Google in a new window and
put in the following keywords:
afghanistan statues
You get about 17,800 results:
That's because most of the pages talk about the former
rulers, the Taliban, who destroyed the statues. But
if that was irrelevant to you, you could weed out
this information pollution" with a minus sign:
afghanistan statues -taliban
and you wipe out over 10,000 pages:
You can eliminate multiple words. For example, we'll
also add the British spelling for Taleban and the
word "destruction" like this:
afghanistan statues -taliban -taleban -destruction
and we have reduced out total results from 18,000
to 3,980:
EXTRA TIP: Like the
"+" sign, be sure you stick the minus
sign right up against the word you want to eliminate,
with no space between the sign and the word. Be
sure to leave a space before the minus sign and
the words that precede it. Do this:
beatles -ringo
and not this:
beatles - ringo
or this:
beatles-ringo
Click
here and try using the minus sign to eliminate unwanted
words. This will open up a new browser window
and you can return to this page when you are finished.
8B: Eliminate confusion
Confusion arises when the computer interprets the
word differently than you do. Apple for you means
the fruit, but for the computer it also means the
computer. I call this the Picasso rule. Picasso -
who never used the web but was a wise man just the
same - once said: "Computers are stupid - all
they give you are answers."
In other words, you have to be very careful about
what question ask. Try this yourself by clicking here
and putting in the keyword: apple.
Over 6 million results! :
But altering the request this way:
apple -computer
eliminates about 5 million sites that talk about
the wrong kind of apple.
Click
here and try using the minus sign to eliminate confusion.
This will open up a new browser window and you can
return to this page when you are finished.
8C: Eliminate web sites
You can also eliminate results from entire web sites
by using the "-" sign.
Often when you do a search, many of the results come
from the same source. Let's say you want information
on the UN AIDS program. Click
here to open up Google in a new window and type in
UN AIDS
This what you get:
But what if you have already checked out the UN website
and interviewed people there. You can't write in:
UN AIDS -UN -AIDS
Because that would eliminate the words you want.
But you can tell Google to ignore any results from
an entire website by copying the address of that web
site. You can add several sites for Google to ignore.
Do the following:
UN AIDS -www.unaids.org -www.un.org
This what you get:
So use the minus sign to make your searches more
exact and specific.
Click
here and try using the minus sign to eliminate a website.
This will open up a new browser window and you can
return to this page when you are finished.
Did you find these free sample
in improving your web research skills? There is much
more in the full course -- 13 lessons that will help
you find the best resources for researching news dossiers.
Click
here to sign up for the full course.
Click
here to find out about other invaluable online courses.
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