Google Search Tips for Students

Google Search Tips for Students

Find what you need when you need it on Google.

Kids use Google to search for the most obvious information. Although you might worry that they are becoming dependent on technology, Google is still one of the most powerful tools in a student’s arsenal. Share some ways for them to use it more effectively.

In-depth search tricks

The Internet is immense and it’s easy to get many results that you don’t want, especially if you’re searching for something broad. It helps to use some search field tricks to narrow the results.

  • To find a specific phrase, use quotation marks. For example, “Bill Clinton Library” would be more effective than searching for those words without the quotes.
  • Use a minus sign to exclude a certain word or phrase from your results, like “Bill Clinton –Library”.
  • Site types, like .edu and .gov, can be exclusively searched using site:edu, site:gov, etc., followed by your search phrase.
  • Site: also works to limit the search to a specific site, like site:nytimes.com
  • If you want a certain word or phrase in the title of the page, use title:[search phrase]
  • Author: works the same, but for a specific author.
  • Limit to a certain file type, like PDFs, with (you guessed it) filetype:

All of those tricks can be used together to really zero in on the desired result.

Search shortcuts

Sometimes you want something simple, like a definition, translation, or math calculation. With the right shortcut, Google will give you the answer directly without having to go to another site. This is just a selection of shortcuts. For an exhaustive list, visit this site published by Google itself.

  • Conversions – “[number] [unit] to [unit]”, like “7 pounds to grams”.
  • Calculations – just type in the equation. You can also get a graph by just putting “graph” before the equation. Also typing “calculator” brings up the calculator itself.
  • Definitions – just type in the word. It will show at the top of the results.
  • Translations – “translate [word] into [language]”. Google Translate can also be used for bigger chunks.
  • Times in other cities – “[City] time”

Deep research with Google Scholar

Searching peer-reviewed journals and articles can be really challenging for secondary students. They simply don’t know the different between the journal Nature and a blog from an environmentalist.

Google Scholar is easy to use and limits the results to “serious” publications. It also makes exporting citation information for bibliographies and footnotes easy. Here are some tips from Google to get the most out of the tool.

Image search without Google Image Search

Google Image Search can show a lot of results—most of them unnecessary or flat-out inappropriate. To add some pizazz to reports and presentations, limit your image search using the LIFE photo archive, which has collected award-winning photos from the magazine. You can also use the search modifiers above in Google Image Search itself.

 

 

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