• Search engines vary in how they search for and organise information. For this reason, it is important to always read the search engine help screen before using them.
• Experiment with advanced search options which allow more complex searches and Boolean searching (i.e. linking words using AND, OR, NOT).
• Try filtering or limiting your search by date, media type or language, etc.
• Some search engines will automatically link words with OR rather than AND (e.g., millennium or dome), so that if a page has only one of the words it will still be picked up. This can lead to millions of documents being retrieved, many of which will be irrelevant. (Note: Google and Altavista automatically link search words with AND).
• Some search engines allow you to put a plus sign (+) in front of a word or phrase that must be in any document (e.g. +millennium +dome). This will reduce the number of hits or documents retrieved and should improve the relevancy of the information found. (Note: Google only returns pages that include all search terms).
• Most major search engines require quote marks around phrases and names, (e.g. "millennium dome"). Without quote marks some search engines will search for words or names as separate words.
• Most major search engines are case sensitive to upper and lower case when searching for names. Most major search engines will search for both capitals and lower case if you enter your search in lower case. If you use capitals (e.g. "Millennium Dome") then only those documents that have also used capitals will be retrieved. This can be a useful way of improving your search results when looking for names of people, places and organisations. However, it is advisable to use lower case if uncertain. (Note: Google searches are not case sensitive).
• Most major search engines will allow you to search for plurals or variations of words using truncation or a wildcard (*) symbol. For example, biolog* will retrieve documents containing biology, biologist, biologists and biological. This can be a useful way of widening your search, i.e. you should find more documents.
• Some search engines use the first search word to determine relevance ranking, so place your main subject statement first.
• With some search engines you can search in the title of documents, rather than anywhere in a document. This can improve the precision of your search and thus improve the relevancy of the documents retrieved.

Search Strategy

• Be specific - avoid using general topics or words, e.g. history.
• Use more than one search word or keyword if possible to narrow a search (but avoid using too many words).
• Think of synonyms for your topic, e.g., old people, elderly people.
• Think of different spellings and terminology (especially American spelling) for your search words, e.g. color/colour, aging/ageing, or lift/elevator.
• Think of different forms of your search words and use truncation (*) to search for them simultaneously, e.g. medic* will search for medicine, medicines, medical, medics, medicinal, medication, etc.