How to Search the Web

How to Search

About Search Engines More Search Engines

Searching is different from browsing, in that you are trying to find some specific information, vs wandering around looking at things that interest you.

Click in the box below, and type a few words that describe what you are looking for. For example, typing growing orchids indoors would find sites about caring for orchids.

You may specify, by clicking on the small arrow next to World Wide Web what areas you would like to search. World Wide Web is the broadest.

Using English words and phrases, without special symbols or punctuation, usually works best. However, you can refine your search by learning a few of the tips below.

Search Tips

Finding Proper Names
Capitalize proper names, such as "December" and "California."

If you capitalize adjacent names, this search engine will treat the words as a single name.
For example, to find sites that mention actress Rain Phoenix, type:
```
Rain Phoenix
```
If you don't capitalize a proper name, it will be treated like any other word. Typing rain phoenix will find sites about weather and Phoenix (Arizona), rather than information about this celebrity.
If you want to search for more than one name, use commas to separate the different names.
For example, to search for Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox, type:
```
Babe Ruth, Boston Red Sox
```
Forgetting the comma between proper names causes them to be treated as one single long name. A search for Babe Ruth Boston Red Sox would yield no results.

Finding a Phrase
Use double quotation marks around, or hyphens between words that are part of a phrase.

Use double quotation marks("") around words that must appear next to each other.
For example, to find pages that describe stupid pet tricks, type:
```
"stupid pet tricks"
```
Without the double quotation marks, you would find sites that contain the word stupid, sites that contain the word pet, and sites that contain the word tricks . You would also find sites about "stupid Mac tricks", "stupid Internet tricks," and "stupid OS/2 tricks", as well as pages about funny animal antics.
Do not use single quotation marks (') in place of double quotation marks.
Use hyphens (-) between words that must appear within one word of each other.
For example, to search for information about cable networks, type:
```
cable-networks
```
Without the hyphen, your search will look for sites that include the word cable and the word networks. The search results would include sites about setting up ethernet and token ring computer networks. With the hyphen, you'll find references to radio or television cable networks, such as CNN.

Finding Words that Appear Together
Use brackets to find words that appear within 100 words of each other, such as words you would expect to see in the same sentence or paragraph.
For example, to find safety tips for using elevators, type:

[elevator safety]

Without the sqare brackets, your search results will include safety tips for hotel visitors and travelers. With the brackets, it finds the home page for the National Association of Elevator Safety Associates.

Specifying Words that Must Appear in the Results
Put a plus sign (+) in front of words that must be in documents found by this search.
For example, to find city guides about San Francisco, type:

city guide +San Francisco

Do not put a space between the plus sign (+) and the word.

Specifying Words that Should Not Appear in the Results
Put a minus sign (-) in front of words that should not appear in any documents found by the search. For example, to find all resources containing python but not monty, type:

python -monty

Do not put a space between the minus sign (-)and the word.