MAKE YOUR GOOGLE SEARCHES MORE EFFECTIVE

Your goal is to find sources that are...

RELIABLE

Trustworthy, accurate, based on high-quality factual evidence 
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ACADEMIC

Creator did their research properly, fact-checked by other experts, intended to be used for research

RELEVANT

Has a lot of info on your topic.

SUFFICIENT

You end up with enough info to properly cover your topic and back up your arguments

The Basics of a Good Google Search

A poor Google search can generate millions of results without finding you any useful and reliable sources of information for your project
Tips for Better Search Results:
  • Choose keywords carefully – Leave out non-essential words like the, of, and, etc.
  • Use quotation marks – This helps you search for exact phrases (e.g. "Pierre Trudeau").
  • Use plus signs (+) – To get results that include all your keywords (e.g. Canada + government + constitution).
  • Use minus signs (-) – To exclude words that you don't want to see in your results (e.g. Whistler -Olympics)
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​Tips for Sifting Through Results:
  • Start with the top results, but be careful—some are ads. Always evaluate these top sites for reliability and suitability before you start taking notes.
  • Look at the URL. Sites ending in .gov, .edu, or well-known organizations are usually more trustworthy than personal blogs or free hosting sites.
  • Read the title for a quick idea of what the page is about.
  • Check the blurb. Reading these few sentences and seeing where and how often your search terms appear can also help you figure out if the site will be useful. 
  • Don’t stop at page one. Good info might be hiding on page two or three. A site that doesn’t appear on the first page may simply be newer or less popular than some of the top results.
  • Refine your search if the results aren’t helpful and add more specific terms.
  • Broaden your search if you get too few result by removing some keywords or quotation marks.​