Cesar Barraza's Profile

Think of all the distracting pages that might also
turn up because one or more of your search terms has multiple meanings.
What words can you think of that might help you eliminate those pages?
Put those in the WITHO

If there's a term with synonyms, either of which might
appear on the page you're after, put them in the WITH ANY OF THE
WORDS field.

Try each of the searches
now, and record how many sites you find.

As you do
each search, take note of what kinds of things turn up.
Notice that the more specific the terms you include and
exclude, the more focused your search.

Net
2: Find Exact Phrases

Words
hang together in predictable ways. If you type a phrase into the EXACT
PHRASE field in Google, you'll be able to locate pages in which those
words appear together in that order. This is obviously useful for finding
things that have a proper name consisting of several words (e.g., places,
book titles, people).

It's also useful when
you can remember a distinctive phrase in something you've read, but
now need to locate it. What's the rest of the poem that starts with
"Jenny kissed me when we met"?

The ability to search
for phrases can be surprisingly useful. Do you suspect that something
your student turned in was plagiarized, or at least heavily borrowed
without attribution? Type in a phrase or two from the paper and see
if it turns up elsewhere! You can also check to see if your own work
is being copied without your permission.

Another use for this
feature: stamping out urban legends. Next time you get an e-mail warning
you about a repressive new law about to pass or a vicious computer virus
about to attack, check it out before passing on misinformation to others.
Type in any unusual or unique phrase you see in the e-mail and see if
others have commented on this particular rumor.

et
3: Trim Back the URL

The
next net is not Google-specific, though you'll find yourself using it
often once you get better at Googling.

Often you'll find a
terrific page nestled deep down inside a folder inside a folder inside
a folder. You suspect that there are other pages you'd find interesting
nearby. How to you find them? Trim the URL step by step.

Sometimes you'll get
a notice saying FORBIDDEN! Sometimes you'll get a list of files and
directories. Sometimes yo

you more about where the page came from.

This is also a good
strategy to try when a page goes missing (that is, you get a 404 message).
Perhaps someone at the site moved the page into a new folder or renamed
a folder. Trace your way back to