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- Get more from Google

Get more from Google

Smart searching

You can get better results from Google if you learn how to be a smart searcher. Try the tips for Advanced Search, Google Scholar and Image Search below.

For more subject-specific sources, you should also try our databases, available through your course resource help page.

What's great about Google?

Fast and easy
Great for quick queries
Variety of formats: video, images, news etc.
Automatic language translation

What are the problems with Google?

Too many results - information overload!
Results not always relevant
Sources not necessarily reliable
Can be difficult to pick out the most useful info.

Advanced search

The URL for Google Advanced Search is: https://www.google.com/advanced_search. Or, you can just Google 'advanced search'!

Boolean searching

Google advanced search allows you to combine search terms, using Boolean search functions (AND, OR, NOT) to design a better search. The Boolean search video will show you how.

Advanced search filters

Once you've mastered this, try using the advanced search filters.

The video will show you how to filter your results by language, region, last update, website type or file format.

These can be useful for telling Google specifically what to look for, where to look and what you want in your results.

Image search

Just like Google text search, Google image search has advanced options that can be really helpful.

Finding images to use in your assignments

Watch the video on finding images and gifs to learn how to find great pictures, photos and animated images for your projects and presentations.

Don't forget to reference the images you find.

It is wise to be aware that some images can be misleading - this guide from Full Fact explains how to spot a fake.