Students in online bachelors programs, writers with an article deadline and the average person in need of information all use search engines to find important information. People no longer have to make multiple phone calls, sit in classrooms or physically visit libraries to access information. Online research is a huge time saver, and it can be even more efficient when you practice a few online research strategies.
Finding the Needle in the Internet Haystack
Search engines were developed to help Internet users to quickly find what they need online. The search engine is the online catalog. Decades ago when you visited the library, you had a catalog that you flipped through to find books of interest. Search engines are the online catalogs that make it easier to narrow down the information you need. If hundreds of thousands of pages have been written about your topic of interest, you’ll need to practice a few important search habits to save time.
Useful Tips for Finding Information
Most people know that to find something online, you have to plug in keywords into the search field. When you are looking for an exact phrase, you would place quotes around the search words. For example, if conducting a search of colleges, you might enter: “online bachelors programs”.
When conducting research for a term paper or an article, you’ll want to use reputable sources. In this case, your editor or professor may require that you limit your references to education and government sites. In this case, you would enter “site:.edu” for education sites and “site:.gov” for government sites.
