Many of us, use google for everything. We look up addresses, movie times, weather, admit it you know you have typed in your name too. In any case, google has become a search strategy, but many of us do not use all of the incredible features it has to offer.

How to do a basic google search?

-Always put your search terms in "quotation marks". This will allow google to search the words as a phrase.

-When specifying your search use "+" to include another topic in your search OR use "-" to exclude a topic from your search.

-You can also specify what kind of websites you want results from. For example, if you want just education results type "your search term" :edu (this will limit your results to websites ending in ".edu"

Other options in a google search

-Lets do a generic search on "New York City" (type it in the google search bar and press "search"). You get a list of results but look under the search bar, above the list of results, you see the word "Web" and next to it a link that says, "show options" (click on that link). You get a list of options on the left. Teachers scroll down to where it says, "Standard view" (click on "Wonder wheel" this will break a subject into topics to assign for different people to do research on.

-You can also click on "Timeline" to get a timeline on that topic for your class.

How to get pictures from google?

-Click on the link, in the top left corner that says "images". Put in the name of what you want a picture of, i.e. cat, dog

-Click on the link "videos", to search videos.

Advanced Search in Google

-You can specify your file type here. So as a teacher if you want to see a Powerpoint on a particular topic you are showing in class, you can click on "advanced search" type in a topic, for example "hurricanes". Click on down arrow, where it says "File type", then click on "Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt)", and click "advanced search" button. All your results will be Powerpoint presentations.

This is just a summary of what google has to offer. On Google's homepage, click on the link that says "more", then click on the link that says"even more". You can translate, make web pages, the sky is the limit!

As a librarian, I do like the many features google has to offer. But, please remember that the library's databases offer a great source of information to your students. So when assigning research projects and homework assignments the databases is the best choice. Students can not verify information from Google.

Books on this topic

• How to do everything with Google tools by Donna L. Baker
• Google: top 100 simplified tips and tricks by Joe Kraynak
• Google power: unleash the full potential of Google by Chris Sherman