As mentioned above, search engines index the exact words found on Web pages. Thus, when you search with a search engine, you are looking for exact words. "Choose your words well," says the proverb. Since you do not know exactly what words may be on a particular Web page that covers the subject you are interested in, you must be creative in anticipating the possibilities.
FOREST LOG. Here is a scheme, called FOREST LOG, to help generate search terms. Suppose, for example, you wish to research the validity of testing. Here is how you might use the Forest Log scheme to generate terms.
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FO |
Forms or variants of the words you are thinking of. For example, if you search on validity of testing, you may miss a page that discusses validity of tests. So you should include the forms: test, testing, tests. Many search engines allow wild cards to cover most forms by using a wild card, often an asterisk, as in test*. |
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Related to testing is measurement, assessment, performance, criteria, judgment, evaluation, and so forth. A search only on validity of test* will miss validity of performance measures. |
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What other words are synonymous or used in place of the word test? What about exam, examination, assessment, quiz, midterm? As another example, suppose you search under apple growing, and find a few items but not what you want. What other possible phrases might be used in an article that would cover this topic? You might search on fruit tree farming, fruit orchards, Washington Red Delicious, etc. |
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The higher on the ladder, the more general or comprehensive the term, while the lower on the ladder, the more specific the term. Thus, for example, a list of terms related to testing, from most general to most specific, might include measurement, assessment, testing, performance test, weightlifting performance test. When you are developing a set of search terms and searching with them, if you do not get the results you want, move up or down the ladder of generalization and generate some more terms. |
There are several ways to type in a word search. Knowing the differences can help you get better results.
Keyword Search. Many search engines by default offer a keyword search. This kind of search will find all pages that contain any of the words you have specified. Moreover, the search will find the words in any order and in any location. For example, suppose you are looking for information about the formulas in shampoo. If you perform a keyword search using the phrase consumer product chemistry, the engine will return every page that mentions any one of these three words anywhere on the page. Thus, you will see pages about "Consumer Protest over Dangerous Toys," and so forth. Fortunately, most engines list their findings (hits) in a ranked order, so that hits with all of the words will be listed before hits with only one or two of the words. And usually, pages where the words are close together will be listed earlier. However, that still means that your keyword search for consumer product chemistry will return a page containing, "Some consumer groups are advocating product warning labels on children's chemistry sets."
Phrase Search. Many search engines allow you to perform an exact phrase search, so that pages with only the words you type in, in that exact order and with no words in between them, will be found. The exact phrase search is often a remedy for too many irrelevant hits. To perform an exact phrase search at a search engine that permits it, put the phrase in quotation marks: "consumer product chemistry." If you get zero results, go back to the Forest Log and do some work!
Boolean Operators. Named after mathematician George Boole, Boolean logic involves the operators AND, OR, NOT, and occasionally NEAR. These operators are available in some engines to expand or contract your search results. The operator OR expands the search, while the others contract it. Let me explain by examples. If you type into the search engine, "summer OR flowers," you will get a hit on every page that has either the word "summer" or the word "flowers" on it. (For the technically minded, the OR is an inclusive OR so that pages with both words will also be returned.) On the other hand, if you type in, "summer AND flowers," only pages with both terms will be returned. As you might imagine, this will be a smaller set of hits. If you type in "summer NOT flowers," then only pages with the word "summer" and not with the word "flowers" will be found. And similarly, if you type in "summer NEAR flowers," only pages with the word "summer" in the close vicinity of the word "flowers" will be returned. Some pages allow you to specify the nearness of the words, such as not more than 15 or 50 words apart.
NOTE: This page is an adaptation of one created by
Robert Harris
Vanguard University of Southern California
original text
can be found here
