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20 Great google Tips and Tools for Better Research (and Fun)

20 Great google Tips and Tools for Better Research (and Fun). Valerie Koenig www.BusinessPlansHawaii.com. Google Punctuation. 1. Google Ignores Most Punctuation Marks: ?,{,[,],},&,%,$,#,! 2. But NOT: Hypens: Hawaii-based v. Hawaii based

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20 Great google Tips and Tools for Better Research (and Fun)

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  1. 20 Great google Tips and Tools for Better Research (and Fun) • Valerie Koenig • www.BusinessPlansHawaii.com

  2. Google Punctuation • 1. Google Ignores Most Punctuation Marks: • ?,{,[,],},&,%,$,#,! • 2. But NOT: • Hypens: Hawaii-based v. Hawaii based • Apostrophes (or Okina): Hawaii v. Hawai’i v. Hawai`i • Accents: Cafe v. Café

  3. Google Punctuation • 3. Don’t Worry about Case • Google is indifferent to case usage (upper or lower case) • gEorGe wASHingTon = George Washington = george washington • Save your keystrokes!

  4. Very Useful Tip • 4. Search for Answers, Not Questions • Put your search query in the vocabulary of the answer phrase. • Bad Search Example: “how many Americans drive SUVs?” • Good Example: “percent of Americans drive SUVs”

  5. Google Punctuation • Punctuation Marks with Meaning: • 5. + (And) • 6. | (Or) • 7. - (Not) • 8. “l” (Phrase Search) • 9. * (Wildcard) • 10. ~ (Synonym)

  6. Google Boolean Logic • 5. Google Default is “And”. Symbol Plus Sign (+) is rarely necessary, used to force numbers “Star Wars +1” • 6. Not = - (Minus Sign). Word NOT does not work as operator. • 7. Or = | (‘bar’ above backslash). Uppercase word “OR” works as operator.

  7. More Refined Searches • 8. Phrase Search (“i”) • Useful for Phrases with Common Words (“employment discrimination”) • 9. Wildcard (*) • Represents one single word (can use more than one) • Useful for Name Searches (especially foreign/Hawaiian) • Useful for querying “answers” (example: “apple has * calories”, “haley’s comet appears every * years) • Good to replace punctuation marks or abbreviations (“bed * breakfast”, “rice * cayatano”)

  8. More Useful Tips • 10. Synonym (~): “women’s ~apparel”, “~contact site:norton.com” (contact ~= support ~=customer service ~=help) • 11. “Define:” - returns only definitions • 12. Google Alert: www.google.com/alerts: track companies, issues online

  9. Site: • 13. Google Operator used to restrict searches to specific URLs • Useful when site has poor search function: searches within the given site, example: “dave smith site:hawaii.edu”, “condominium site:hawaii.gov/dcca”, “ptsd site:va.gov” • Can use to exclude sites, example: “hear loss -site:com”, • Great with Google Images: “site:goodsill.com”

  10. Filetype: • 14. Used to restrict search results to specific filename extensions. • Example: “restaurant “business plan” filetype:pdf”, “retail profit * loss filetype:xls” • Works with most common filetypes: Adobe (pdf) , Excel (xls, xlsx), Word (doc), PowerPoint (ppt) • Others: rtf, txt, php, asp, jsp, html. • Not: mp3

  11. Useful Tips • 15. Calculator / Converter • Simple & Complex Math • Currency / Measurement Converter: • 5 kilometers in miles • teaspoons in cups • dollars in rupiah

  12. Useful Travel Tips • 16. Weather: Hilo • 17. Time:London • 18. Flight Tracker: HA 102, UA 319

  13. Useful Tips • 19. Special Number Look-Ups: • Area Codes • Patent Numbers • Packages: UPS, FedEx, USPS tracking # • VINs • 20. Movies with Zip: “Movies 96813”

  14. Extra Credit • “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google homepage

  15. In Closing • The best answers are only a few pages deep. • There’s lots we didn’t cover today. • Google keeps coming out with new stuff. • If you’re not getting the results you need, try something new.

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