This year I've joined an independent research class called "Butterfly Effect". We get to research and write about anything we'd like. Google, being a big name search engine, is what I usually used to look things up. Google is definitely most people's first choice, but it's easy to get lost in all the results. You can spend hours looking through all the results when you could've spent minutes. So, here are some tips to help make you find whatever you're searching for way easier.


1. Brackets: Wanna look a phrase up but you keep getting random keyword results? Searching a phrase in brackets will yield only pages with the same words in the same order as what’s in the quotes. It’s one of the most vital search tips, especially useful if you’re trying to find results containing a specific a phrase.

2. Tools: After pressing "search" on google you'll find the words "Settings" and "Tools" to the top right. When you click on tools you can decide what country, time, or type your results should be. It looks like this: 

4. Minus sign: The - sign is best to keep websites or articles you don't like out of your search results. Simply write the word you wouldn't like to see in the search bar with a - in front of it (eg: -phone, -peanuts). No results with those words will come up.

5. Advanced Search: Probably the easiest option here is "Advanced Search" if you have enough time. Remember how "Settings" and "Tools" are right beside each other from my third point? This time you should go to "Settings".  A list should come up under the name. From there just click on "Advanced Search" and fill in the blank. Below is what it should look like:

Thanks for checking out what I had to offer! I hope you learnt something and feel free to check back in next week for my new content. 

Seeya!

Katelyn