Optimize Your Searches to Write Better Projects, Faster, When You Learn the Internet

Writing essays for class can be a long, boring process. We can’t help you with the boring part, but we can teach you how to search for information, more efficiently, when you learn the Internet and Internet search engines.

Learn How to Narrow Your Search with This Internet

• Using the plus (+) and the minus (-) sign with your search words will force the search engine to include and exclude certain words in your search.
  EXAMPLE: flowers+pots -garden


• Using quotation marks around your search word (“__”) will search for the exact phrase, with the words side by side.
  EXAMPLE: "video professor"


• When searching, put the most important words in front.
  EXAMPLE: Russia airplane war pilots


• Type your keywords in lowercase, uppercase letters will usually only return exact matches.
  EXAMPLE: king vs. King


• Use truncation (stemming) and wildcards (e.g., *) to look for variations in spelling and word form.
  EXAMPLE: electri* returns electric, electricity, electrical etc.


• Combine phrases with keywords, use double quotations and the plus (+) and/or minus (-) signs.
  EXAMPLE: aliens + “outer space” -movies -costumes

Checking Sources and Reading URLs

If you want to learn the Internet, there are many things to pay attention to. Did you know, for example, that the address on the top of the Internet page can tell you a lot about the site? For instance, can you explain the difference between a .com site and a .org site?

• .com – a commercial business site
• .org – reserved mainly for nonprofit organizations in the U.S.
• .edu – educational sites, found mostly on college and university URL’s
• .mil – for U.S. military and related agencies
• .gov – U.S. government or non-military site
• .net – networks, Internet service providers and organizations

Understanding what type of site you are on will help you better understand the type of information you are getting. Is the information unbiased? Are the sources good sources? When you learn the Internet, you learn the difference between good and bad sources. Here is an Internet tip: check when the page was last updated. Is there an author or publisher? There is a lot of content on the Web and different types of people putting content up.

Learn the Internet and Get Your Essay Written

You know what you need to write about already, but do you know which aspects of your topic you want to search first? Come up with a search plan. Understand the defaults of the search engine you are using. When you learn the Internet you can search faster and more accurately. Here is an Internet tip: understand stop words in search engines. Stop words are words that many search engines do not include, in fact, they generally ignore them when searching text and titles on the Web. Words like: a, about, an, and, by, from, how, in, is, of, on, or, that, the, to, we, what, with, etc. Another Internet tip: If you use these words in quotations, the search engine might recognize them. When you learn the Internet, you open yourself up to a world of new information. Here are some more great Internet tips on searching:

• Be specific in your search
  EXAMPLE: Chocolate Labrador


• Try to use nouns and objects as keywords in your search
  EXAMPLE: vintage clothing and posters


• Using at least 3 keywords improves relevant result returns
  EXAMPLE: learn the Internet

The Internet is a great resource. As a student, the Internet can help you write an accurate and informative essay. No matter what class you are writing for, when you learn the Internet, you gain the key to world knowledge. It may seem like a lot to take in, but to learn the Internet and learn it well, you really don’t need to dedicate hours of your time. The Internet is about looking around and having fun, so take these Internet tips, and every thing you’ve read and keep them with you as you continue to learn the Internet.