History: Google

Google's Scholar search finds journal articles or other high quality information. It limits results to academic-related sources, such as peer reviewed journals, research based  working papers, books and other scholarly resources.

However, unlike Library databases, it has limited search options, restricted search size and prioritises keywords appearing first in your search strategy, so we recommend that it should not be your sole source of information. Use in combination with appropriate Library databases.

To export any references to the Refworks database, go to the Scholar settings, choose the Bibliography Manager option and select 'Show links to import citations into' Refworks.

For more information on Google Scholar, including search tips and citation metrics see: http://scholar.google.co.uk/intl/en/scholar/about.html

If you intend to use the 'full' Google, check Settings for advanced search tips to improve the accuracy of your search. Northampton University also has a useful video - Ten Tips for Google Searching.

Tip 1: Keep it simple

No matter what you're looking for, start with a simple search like where's the closest airport?. You can always add a few descriptive words if necessary.  Google ignores small words so don’t type long sentences.

If you're looking for a place or product in a specific location, add the location. For example, bakery seattle. 

Tip 2: Search using your voice

Tired of typing? Click the microphone icon in the Google app  , or Chrome's search box to search by voice.

Tip 3: Choose words carefully

When you're deciding what words to put in the search box, try to choose words that are likely to appear on the site you're looking for. For example, instead of saying my head hurts, say headache, because that’s the word a medical site would use.

Tip 4: Don’t worry about the little things

• Spelling. Google's spell checker automatically uses the most common spelling of a given word, whether or not you spell it correctly. 
• Capitalization. A search for New York Times is the same as a search for new york times.

Tip 5: Find quick answers

For many searches, Google will do the work for you and show an answer to your question on the search results. Some features, like information about sports teams, aren't available in all regions. 

• Weather: Search weather to see the weather in your location or add a city name, like weather Seattle, to find weather for a certain place.
• Dictionary: Put define in front of any word to see its definition. 
• Calculations: Enter a math equation like 3*9123, or solve complex graphing equations.
• Unit conversions: Enter any conversion, like 3 dollars in euros.
• Sports: Search for the name of your team to see a schedule, game scores and more. 
• Quick facts: Search for the name of a celebrity, location, movie, or song to find important information. 

See also the video "12 tips for faster Google searches"

Use search operators to narrow down results

Search operators are words that can be added to searches to help narrow down the results. Don’t worry about memorizing every operator - you can also use the Advanced Search page to create these searches.

Note: When you search using operators, don't add any spaces between the operator and your search terms. A search for site:nytimes.com will work, but site: nytimes.com will not.

You may not find a complete book on your chosen topic, but there may be sections or chapters WITHIN books which you might find useful.

Google Books is a good way to find books with find matching text or chapter headings. See the search box below. 

Once you locate a relevant text, check the Library catalogue to see if we have the book in stock or request it via the Document Delivery service if we don't.

You can use special characters and words to get more specific search results. Except for the examples below, most punctuation is ignored. For example, a search for dogs! is seen by Google as dogs.

Punctuation & symbols that Google Search recognizes

Even though the symbols below are supported, including them in your searches doesn’t always improve the results. If we don't think the punctuation will give you better results, you may see suggested results for that search without punctuation.

Note: When you search using symbols, don't add any spaces between the symbol and your search terms. A search for -dogs will work, but - dogs will not.

Advanced Search

Don’t worry if you can’t recall these search tips, they are all present in the Advanced search options.  Click Settings and choose Advanced Search.

Narrow down search results for complex searches by using the Advanced Search page. For example, find websites written in Spanish that have "Paella" in the title and were updated in the last 24 hours. Or find black and white images of New York.

Get to the Advanced Search page

• Advanced Search for websites: Go to www.google.com/advanced_search or click the gear icon in the top right corner of a search results page > Advanced Search.
• Advanced Search for images: Go to www.google.com/advanced_image_search or click the gear icon in the top right corner of an image search results page > Advanced Search.

How the Advanced Search page works

1. Go to the Advanced Search page.
2. Enter your search terms in the “Find pages with” section.
3. Choose the filters you want to use in the “Then narrow your results by” section. You can use one or more filters.
4. Click Advanced Search

Filters

Search filters include Web News Images Books Video   

Search tools option will open additional filters depending on the initial filter, eg web: date, reading level, country; images: size, colour, type, usage rights;
Books: ebook, free ebook, publication date;
Video: length, quality date

Tip: You can also use many of these filters in the search box with search operators.

There is a huge amount of information on the internet, of variable quality.  For a short guide on how to evaluate websites, use the Internet Detective.

Here are a few brief things to check (for more information use the Internet Detective).

Authority

• Who is responsible for the page/site?
• Is it a reliable organisation (eg a well known university) or a subject expert?
• Is the URL a standard one eg .gov.uk, ac.uk. org?
• Can you trust this site?

Accuracy and reliability

• Is the information correct?
• Are the grammar and spelling correct?
• Is information impartial, or are the authors giving one point of view?
• Do the authors have their own agenda eg web pages of political organisations?
• Is the information on the website fact or opinion?

Currency

• Can you tell how up-to-date it is? Are there dates on the page?
• Is there evidence that it is regularly updated?
• Old information may be incorrect unless you are looking for historical context so beware.

Audience / relevance

• Is the information of the right level to be quoted in your work? If it is aimed at the general public or school children it might not be.

Feel

• Is the site well structured and easy to navigate?
• Are any external links from the page up-to-date and valid?
• If it is well designed and maintained then you can feel more confident about the information it provides
• Do the authors cite their sources or provide any other information that makes the site feel authoritative?
• Are there contact details for the organisation or authors?