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‘AND’, ‘+’ or ‘Must include’: Blocks results that don’t have
keywords that were inputted within a site.
‘OR’ or ‘Should include’: Will allow sites with one or more of
keywords that were inputted.
‘NOT’, ‘-‘ or ‘Must not include’: Prevents sites containing keywords that have been specified by
user from being listed.
If a string of keywords are contained by “speech marks” these will be searched for as if they were a single word. E.g. “A hotel in Paris” would list primarily all
hotels in Paris whereas A hotel in Paris, without speech marks, would list a lot of hotels that might have nothing to do with Paris.
Searching methodology
Without some sort of plan, it will be easy to get lost among
myriad of web pages out there on
Web so it is important you keep track of:
1.What you are searching for. 2.Where you have been. 3.A list of URL’s (Uniform Resource Locator) you wish to follow up on.
Some of you might laugh, but it’s easy to get distracted and it’s important that, if you are searching for a specific piece of information, you do not get sidetracked.
Documentation
It is important, when you are collecting information, that you have an understanding of
Copyright Laws. This basically means when you are storing your information make sure you display who wrote it and
site that you got it from.
Information organisation
What do you do with all
information you collect? Lots of people just copy and paste onto poorly labelled documents into non-descript folders and then wonder why they can’t find it when
meeting is in ten minutes.
Labelling is important. One of
greatest mistakes I often see is when people insist in using some sort of code to define whatever contents they have e.g.: ‘foot86Engwcg’ = ‘1986 world cup, English football team, goalie’, I mean, what’s
point in using code. We don’t have any restrictions saying we have to use no more than a dozen letters, do we?
When creating a document, always save it with a name describing whatever
content is about. Save
document into a folder that has been clearly marked with whatever topic it is meant to hold.
That may seem long-winded but it becomes invaluable when your research begins to grow and you end up with over a thousand documents or book-marked sites. It will also improve your chances in finding any particular document in
future when using
search facility.

Jason Preece works for www.sumitmedia.co.uk in the Communication and Intelligence department. Summit media provides a comprehensive service to all types of business wanting a presence on the Internet. For more information email: info@summitmedia.co.uk mailto:info@summitmedia.co.uk