Power Searching with Google

          This week in computer applications, we have been focusing on "Power Searching with Google"--an in-depth lesson on how to use Google productively as an efficient web searcher. So far, we have gone over classes 1, 2, & 3.

          In class 1, we learned about how to use the color filter to help narrow down your image results, how to recognize ads, why Google searches for synonyms, why word use and placement needs to be appropriate, and how to find text on a webpage. One skill that I learned during this class was how to use the color filter. Now, when I need to search a topic and need to limit my results to only black and white results, or only red results, I will be able to effectively use the color pallet to help me do so. Another skill I learned was how to find a text on a webpage. You use 'ctrl + f' on the desired page and a search bar will pop up and help you search for a specific text on the webpage. I've run in town races and seen result pages with a lot of names and participants, so using the 'ctrl + f' command will help me when searching for myself in races I run in in the future.

          In class 2, we learned about how to "define" specific words and hear exactly how that word sounds, that using different media types (for ex: news, images) can help refine a search, what the parts of a search engine result are, and that there are different kinds of content you can find on Google. One skill that I learned during this class was that there are three main parts of a search engine result: the page title (in blue), the web address (in green), and snippet/abstract (in black) that contains the text from the page around the terms you search for. If you need to find the URL of a search result quickly, now all you have to do is look for the green link under the result title. Another skill that I learned was how to use all the different content on Google. On the left hand side of a results page, there is a list of different types of content that you can use to narrow down your search results or help you find more accurate and factual results. These types of content include: blogs, discussions, recipes, patents, books, 3D models, scholarly sources, and legal documents.

          In class 3, we learned about operators and how to filter results using colons, how to use the minus sign (-) to eliminate irrelevant results, how to use OR, and how to use quotes to narrow down search results. One skill I learned during this class was how to use the minus (-) sign, which is something I will use in the future when searching for one specific subject. For example, if I wanted to search for the patriots as in the veterans who fought in wars, I would search [patriots -football], because I am not referring to the New England football team.  Another skill I learned was how to use quotes in a search--if you are looking for a specific phrase, you put quotes around it so that the words stay together, and you are searching for the phrase/sentence as its entirety.