Researching Online: Tips to Find what You're Looking For

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RESEARCHING ONLINE TIPS FOR FINDING WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR

I. Google Operators

II. Available Government Data

III. Additional Resources

AGENDA

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GOOGLE OPERATORS ADDING SPECIFICITY TO YOUR SEARCH QUERY

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SYMBOL MEANINGS

•  ~word | searches for related words

•  X..Y | specifies a range (quantities, years, etc.)

•  ? | place holder for 1 character

•  * | place holder for 1+ characters

•  OR, AND | same as Boolean operators (must be in all caps)

•  “keyword(s)” | searches for exact keyword(s) in exact order

•  - | excludes what you denote from results (can use keywords or operators; no space after minus)

BASICS

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CAVAET TO USAGE

•  If using a Boolean operator with Google operators, each side of the Boolean operator REQUIRES ITS OWN GOOGLE OPERATOR

OPERATORS

EXAMPLE

keyword(s) operator:stipulation1 OR stipulation2

keyword(s) operator:stipulation1 OR operator:stipulation2

ONLY ONE FILETYE: OPERATOR PER EXTENSION

medicare laws filetype:doc OR docx

medicare laws filetype:doc OR filetype:docx

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RETURNS ONLY THE FILETYPE YOU SPECIFY

•  images: jpeg, gif, png

•  doc, docx

•  xls, xlsx

•  PDF

KEYWORD(S) FILETYPE:EXTENSION

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KEYWORD(S) SITE:URL.COM

RETURNS SITES YOU SPECIFY THAT CONTAIN THE KEYWORDS YOU ENTER

•  Specific URLs

•  Or types of sites (e.g. gov, edu, org, etc.)

ONLY ONE SITE: OPERATOR PER SITE

literacy statistics site:gov OR edu

literacy statistics site:gov OR site:edu

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LINK:URL.COM

RETURNS SITES LINKING TO THE URL YOU SPECIFY

•  Add [ –site:URL.com ] to remove links coming from the site you specified or another site

•  EXAMPLE | link:sesamestreet.org –site:sesamestreet.org

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LINK:URL.COM RESULTS

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INTITLE:KEYWORD

RETURNS SITES THAT HAVE THE KEYWORD(S) YOU SPECIFY IN THEIR META TITLE

•  Add [keyword(s)] to the front to return only sites linking to the specified URL with the keywords you entered

•  EXAMPLE | michelle obama intitle:”big bird”

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INTITLE:KEYWORD RESULTS

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RELATED:URL.COM

RETURNS SITES GOOGLE BELIEVES ARE RELATED TO THE SITE YOU SPECIFY

•  related:nike.com

See who your competitors are from THE SEARCH ENGINE’S PRESPECTIVE

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INFO:URL.COM

RETURNS PREDETERMINED SET OF INFORMATION FOR THE URL YOU SPECIFY

•  info:disney.com

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BASIC AND COMPLEX EXAMPLES APPLY WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED

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BASIC OPERATORS 1

WHAT WOULD YOU SEARCH?

•  You have a chocolate sweet tooth and need a fix, but you don’t care whether you make chocolate cookies or chocolate cake.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES OR CHOCOLATE CAKE

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BASIC OPERATORS 1 RESULTS

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BASIC OPERATORS 2


•  You want to buy a green bicycle, but only want to spend between $200 and $450 dollars

GREEN ~BICYCLE $250..$450

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BASIC OPERATORS 2 RESULTS

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BASIC OPERATORS 3


•  You need to research marlins that live on the Florida coast. You don’t care about the Florida Marlins baseball team but you do care about having results that talk about both marlin singular and marlin plural.

FLORIDA MARLIN? -BASEBALL

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BASIC OPERATORS 3 RESUTLS


•  You’re a prospective medical school student interested in researching neurofibromastosis, but only want to apply to schools which have funding opportunities and grants.

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COMBINING OPERATORS 1

NEUROFIBROMA RESEARCH GRANTS

SITE:EDU

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COMBINING OPERATORS 1 RESULTS


•  You (a current 5th grade student) watched Jimmie Johnson win this year’s Daytona 500 in the 48 car and you decide to do your school report on the Daytona 500 in the 2000s. You need to find who the past 12 winners were, but since it’s for a school report you aren’t allowed to source Wikipedia.

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2000..2012

DAYTONA 500 WINNERS -SITE:WIKIPEDIA.ORG

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•  You want to find the number of babies born each year for the past X number of years to put in a graph for a presentation and you want this data from a reputable source.

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BIRTHS FILETYPE:XLS SITE:GOV

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•  You’re deciding between purchasing the book Kisses from Katie or the book Life of Pi for your friend’s birthday and you’re planning to buy whichever you decide from Amazon.

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SITE:AMAZON.COM

INTITLE:“KISSES FROM KATIE” OR INTITLE“LIFE OF PI”

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GOVERNMENT AGENCIES THAT HAVE PUBLICY AVAILABLE DATA

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OVER 75 DIFFERENT AGENCIES, EACH WITH OWN DOMAIN •  Administrative Office of the United States Courts

•  Agency for International Development

•  Army, Corps of Engineers

•  Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

•  Bureau of Economic Analysis

•  Bureau of Justice Statistics

•  Bureau of Labor Statistics

•  Bureau of Land Management

•  Census Bureau

•  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

•  Central Intelligence Agency

•  Comptroller of the Currency

•  Office of the Clerk U.S. House of Representatives

•  Council of Economic Advisers

•  Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

•  Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service

•  Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service

•  Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service

•  Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Conservation Service

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  Department of Defense

•  Department of Education

•  Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration

•  Department of Health and Human Services

•  Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

•  Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard

•  Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics

•  Department of Housing and Urban Development

•  Department of Labor

•  Department of State

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  Department of Transportation

•  Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

•  Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Public Debt

•  Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Services

•  Department of Veterans Affairs

•  Drug Enforcement Administration

•  Employment and Training Administration

•  Energy Information Administration

•  Environmental Protection Agency

•  Export-Import Bank of the United States

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  Farm Credit Administration

•  Federal Bureau of Investigation

•  Federal Communications Commission

•  Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

•  Federal Highway Administration

•  Federal Railroad Administration

•  Fish and Wildlife Service

•  Forest Service

•  General Services Administration, Federal Real Property Council

•  Geological Survey

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  Internal Revenue Service

•  International Trade Administration, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries

•  International Trade Commission

•  Library of Congress

•  Maritime Administration

•  Mine Safety and Health Administration

•  National Aeronautics and Space Administration

•  National Center for Education Statistics

•  National Center for Health Statistics

•  National Credit Union Administration

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  National Endowment for the Arts

•  National Endowment for the Humanities

•  National Guard Bureau

•  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

•  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

•  National Park Service

•  National Science Foundation

•  National Transportation Safety Board

•  Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

•  Office of Management and Budget

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  Office of Personnel Management

•  Patent and Trademark Office

•  Railroad Retirement Board

•  Securities and Exchange Commission

•  Small Business Administration

•  Social Security Administration

•  Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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“CONTAINS REFERENCES TO IMPORTANT PRIMARY SOURCES OF STATISTICAL INFORMATION FOR THE UNITED STATES” •  Aerospace Industries Association

•  Air Transport Association of America

•  The Alan Guttmacher Institute

•  American Bureau of Metal Statistics

•  American Council of Life Insurers

•  American Dental Association

•  American Forest and Paper Association

•  American Gas Association

NON-GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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CONTINUED… •  American Iron and Steel Institute

•  American Jewish Committee

•  American Medical Association

•  American Osteopathic Association

•  American Petroleum Institute

•  American Public Transportation Association

•  Association for Manufacturing Technology

•  Association of American Railroads

•  Association of Racing Commissioners International

•  Book Industry Study Group


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CONTINUED… •  Boy Scouts of America

•  The Bureau of National Affairs

•  Carl H. Pforzheimer and Company

•  Chronicle of Higher Education

•  College Board

•  Commodity Research Bureau, Logical Systems

•  The Conference Board

•  Congresstional Quarterly (CQ) Press

•  Consumer Electronics Association (Electronic Industries Alliance)

•  The Council of State Governments


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CONTINUED… •  Credit Union National Association

•  Dow Jones and Company

•  Edison Electric Institute

•  Editor and Publisher Company

•  Euromonitor International

•  Federal National Mortgage Association

•  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

•  The Foundation Center

•  General Aviation Manufacturers Association

•  Girl Scouts of the USA


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CONTINUED… •  Giving USA Foundation

•  Health Forum, an American Hospital Association Company

•  Independent Petroleum Association of America

•  Information Today

•  Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics

•  Insurance Information Institute

•  Inter-American Development Bank

•  International Air Transport Association

•  International City Management Association

•  International Labour Organization


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CONTINUED… •  International Monetary Fund

•  International Telecommunication Union

•  Investment Company Institute

•  Jane’s Information Group

•  Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

•  Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

•  McGraw-Hill Construction Dodge, a Division of the McGraw-Hill Companies

•  National Academy of Sciences

•  National Academy of Social Insurance

•  National Association of Home Builders


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CONTINUED… •  National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials

•  National Association of Realtors

•  National Association of State Budget Officers

•  National Association of State Park Directors

•  National Catholic Educational Association

•  National Council of Churches USA

•  National Education Association

•  National Fire Protection Association

•  National Golf Foundation

•  National Marine Manufacturers Association


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CONTINUED… •  National Restaurant Association

•  National Safety Council

•  National Sporting Goods Association

•  New York Stock Exchange

•  The New York Times Almanac

•  Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

•  PennWell Corporation

•  Puerto Rico Planning Board

•  Radio Advertising Bureau

•  Reed Business Information


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CONTINUED… •  Regional Airline Association

•  Securities Industry Association

•  Standard and Poor’s Corporation

•  United Nations Statistics Division

•  United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

•  United States Telecom Association

•  University of Michigan, Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research

•  Warren Communications News

•  World Almanac


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CONTINUED… •  The World Bank Group

•  World Health Organization

•  World Trade Organization


170+ TOTAL GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, COVERING A MYRIAD OF INDUSTRIES AND BUSINESSES

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES USEFUL SITES FOR USEFUL INFORMATION

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BRIEF RESOURCE LIST

•  Government Statistic Abstract – guide to sources of statistics (includes frequency, how often the report is conducted)

•  American Fact Finder – guided search to finding Census data

•  2010 Population Finder– 2010 Census demographic stats

•  Google Guide – outlines operator and query functions

•  Forrester – proprietary research, consumer and business data

•  What Do You Love? – Aggregated results for any term from multiple Google products

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GOOGLE SEARCH SHORTCUTS & TRICKS ARTICLES FROM: ASKING SMARTER QUESTIONS

•  Basic Tips Everyone Should Know

•  Advanced Query Searching

•  Tell Me Something, Google

•  Navigation Tab Options

•  Local Search

•  Mobile Search

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THANK YOU

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