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Advance your Google skills

You're probably all familiar with a basic search, but here are a few tips on using Google more efficiently:

Boolean Operators:

  • are the terms And Or Not
    • or their sign equivalents + | -  (Google uses a mix of words and signs.)

Using "and" with your search terms narrows your retrieved results to those containing all the words.

  • Dolphins + Miami (this says we want websites that discuss dolphins as well as Miami)

The minus sign/dash (-) narrows your retrieved results to those that do not contain the term following it.

  • Dolphins -Miami (this says we don't want websites that discuss dolphins as well as Miami)

Using "or" broadens your retrieved results to include websites with any of the words.

  • Dolphins | Miami (this says we want websites that discuss dolphins or Miami)

Search an exact word or phrase:

  • Use quotes around the set of words you'd like to keep in a specific order, without Google correcting the spelling or offering synonyms.
    • "Miami Dolphins"

Search similar words:

  • A tilde sign (~) in front of a words tells Google to search for that specific word and synonyms.
    • ~football (this says find the word football or related words, like sports, NFL, ESPN, Gaelic football)

For other Google search tips, visit their Inside Search Page.

Google Web

 

Google Books

Google Book Search   

 

Google Scholar

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Search for articles, documents, books, etc. Includes legal opinions & journals. Links to full text owned by SHSU.

 

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