An Internet Research Strategy


Before You Begin:
  • Write your topic as a one-sentence question or statement.
  • Decide if you are looking for general information or an answer to a specific question.

 
 
General Information Question
Example: What information is available on child labor in China?
Specific Question
Example: What laws regulate child labor in China? 
  • Choose a Subject Directory (like Yahoo!) or a Meta Search Engine (like MetaCrawler, MetaFind and Dogpile).
  • Keep your search simple by choosing one or two key words or phrases. child labor China
  • Try using synonyms for your key words. Use work for labor.
  • Spell everything correctly and use capital letters only for proper nouns.
  • Choose a Keyword Index (like Alta Vista).
  • Use " " around any words or names that you want searched as complete phrases. “child labor”
  • If there are words and phrases that you want present in every document you retrieve, put a + in front of all of them or join them with AND. 
    • +”child labor” +China +law “child labor” AND China AND law
  • If you want to exclude certain terms, put a – in front of them. 
    • +”child labo*” +China –dish*
  • If you aren’t sure of the spelling, use an *. 
    • “child labo*” will give you “child labor” or “child labour”“law*” will give you “law” or “laws”
  • If you want information on China and not china dishes, be sure to capitalize correctly. Try using synonyms for your key words. Use policy for law.
  • If you don’t find what you’re looking for, try an Index search. (See right column.)
  • If you still can’t find what you’re looking for:  Look for Webliographies (sites with lots of links to your subject).
  • Search Yahoo! for +”your subject” +indices (eg:  +”child labor” +indices)
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