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Digital Literacy: Googling Like a Rock Star!

Googly

Take your Google searching skills to the next level.  Explore this station to design the most effective searches, narrow your search results, and retrieve relevant information.   

Step One: Read and Watch

  • Click the link on the far right and watch the video: How to Google Like a Pro.
  • Read the next two tabs, Google Search Conventions and Google Power Tips
  • After watching and reading, discuss the following:
    • What did you learn that's new?
    • Which skills will you apply in your searching?

Step Two: Complete the printed activity, Google Searching: Your Turn!

  • Follow the search direction and record your results
  • Which new skills do you like the best?

Before you search

  • Determine what you're looking for.
  • Choose as many descriptive words as needed.  What are your best keywords?
    • Too few words may give poor results.
    • Google search box accepts up to 32 words.
    • Search engines ignore words that commonly occur in the English language.  Check out this list of stop words.
Boolean Operators (from the Google Help Vault)

Be sure to enter Boolean operators in all capital letters; otherwise, they will be treated as search terms instead of operators.

Operator Description
AND Searches for results that include both the term before and the term after the operator. For example:
  • The query secret AND message returns all items that contain both the word secret and the word message.
  •  
OR Searches for results that include either the term before or the term after the operator (or both). For example:
  • The query secret OR message returns all items that contain either the word secret or the word message (or both).
  •  
NOT Searches for results that do not include the term after the operator. For example:
  • The query NOT secret returns all items that do not contain the word secret.
  •  

​Google Search Conventions

  • Searches are not case sensitive. 
    • Keywords may be entered in lower or upper case or a combination of both. Math, math, MATH  
    • Exception: Boolean operator OR
      • Find apartments in Cambridge or Arlington          
        Apartments Cambridge OR Arlington      
        OR         must be in caps.
      • Pipe symbol may be used instead of OR               
        Apartments Cambridge | Arlington
    • Boolean operator AND is assumed
      • Find apartments in Cambridge and Arlington         
        Apartments Cambridge Arlington
  • Word order matters.
    • Google ranks the first word slightly higher than the second, the second slightly more than the third, etc.
      • music math (results are slightly different from the search math music)
  • Google ignores most punctuation and symbols. Exceptions:
    • Dollar sign when used to indicate price.
      • canon $400 gives different results than canon 400.
    • Underscore or hyphen when used to connect words.
      • brother-in-law
      • end_of_file
    • Symbols when used to convey meaning such as a programming language (C++), musical terms (G#), etc.
  • Google uses automatic word stemming.
    • Google does not allow wildcards to be used for variable ends of words.
    • Instead, Google searches for all possible word variations.
      • Diet returns diets dieting dietary

*MIT Libraries, Georgana McReynolds, used with permission

The Most Useful Search Tips to Remember:

Operator Description Examples
""

Exact phrase search

  • Search for words in the order as typed.
  • Type double quotes at the beginning and end of the phrase.

"chemical engineering"

"10 smoots"

"futuristic world of science fiction"

"As you like it"
+

Include word(s) in the results

  • Type a plus sign before the word or phrase to include.
  • A space must be placed before the plus sign but not after it.
  • Use this operator to include stop words in the results.
    • earthquake +LA California  

"exciton transfer" +temperature

turbine +"Pelton wheel"

Picasso +Guernica
-

Exclude word(s) in the results

  • Type a minus sign before the word or phrase to exclude.
  • A space must be placed before the minus sign but not after it.

 

"Michelle Obama" -Barack -president

violin music +sonata -concerto

Gehry -Stata

football -soccer -rugby
site:

Restrict search to a particular domain or website

  • Search top level domains such as .edu, .org, .com, .gov, .net
  • Search within a specific country's domain.

Find volunteer opportunities in Boston at non-profit companies.

volunteering Boston site:.org

Find information from the MIT Libraries about Endnote.

Endnote site:libraries.mit.edu

Find information about chemical engineering degrees at MIT.

"degree requirements" site:mit.edu/cheme

Find chemical engineering jobs in China.

"chemical engineering" jobs site:.cn

Find a list of all the pages on the MIT Libraries website.

site:libraries.mit.edu

*MIT Libraries, Georgana McReynolds, used with permission

The URL, or website address, offers information about a website and provides clues about its trustworthiness.  

Step One: Watch the video about URLs

  • Click the play button above and watch the video: What is a URL?

Step Two: Explore two websites and become a URL dectective​

  • Understanding URLs - 21st Century Information Fluency
  • What is a URL? - Lifewire​
    • Read two sections: The Parts of a URL & Clues That Web Addresses Can Give You

​​Step Three: Complete the Activity in the next tab​

Your Turn!

  • Apply what you’ve learned and evaluate some URLs

 Directions:

Discuss and reply individually on this Google Form:

  • What is the domain name for each website?
  • What is the domain extension or type?
  • What new skills can you apply after this lesson?

Watch this video: How to Google Like a Pro

Want to learn more? Watch this video to become an expert searcher.