Tips for Better Search Results
These general tips will help you tailor your search no matter which search engine you are using:
| Tips | Examples |
|---|---|
|
Be specific: • Use nouns and unique words • Put the most important words first • Use multiple terms when possible |
If you were interested in "how to treat diabetes" you could search for
|
| Use quotes around phrases so the search engine will search for the words as a phrase not as separate words | To look for a term, rather than search the individual words in a term, use quotes around it: "world health organization" |
| Use a plus sign + in front of a word or a phrase to require its search | A word or a phrase preceded by a + must be present in all pages returned +"health care" +"school lunches " |
| Use a minus sign - in front of a word to exclude its search | If you wanted pages on lung disease but not including cancer you can prevent "cancer" from being searched: "lung disease" -cancer |
| Use lower case letters to find words that are either lower and upper case |
medicare "federal drug administration" |
| Use parentheses around terms that have similar meanings. Enter connectors in capital letters |
(adolescents OR teenagers) television AND children |