How to use Internet search engines

Phrase Searching

Put a phrase in quotation marks to look for the words together in exactly that order.  Helpful for names, places, companies, quotations, or any words that go together in a phrase.

Examples:
"John Smith"
"Beverly Hills"
"Abbott Pharmaceuticals"
"We hold these truths to be self evident"

Plus +

The + sign searches for words together in any order.

Examples:
Medicare + fraud will find both Medicare fraud and fraud in Medicare.
Wisconsin + Dells will find Wisconsin Dells and Dells of Wisconsin.

Minus -

The - sign searches for a word without another word.

Examples:
Wisconsin - Dells will find Wisconsin only without Dells.
Medicare - fraud will find Medicare only if fraud is not mentioned.

And

Results MUST include both words. Decreases number of results.

Examples:
Cars and BMW will find only sites about BMW cars.
Cake and recipes will find only sites that have both cake and recipes.

Or

Results may include either word. Increases number of results.

Examples:
Cars OR BMW will find car sites, BMW sites, and sites with both words together.
Cake OR recipes will find cake sites, recipes sites, and sites with both words together.

Search Engine Help Links

Google
Info.com
KidsClick
Librarians’ Index
Yahoo
Yahooligans