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Search smarter not harder

There is no doubt that the internet has made things much easier to research. However, sometimes searching for one piece of information can feel a bit like trying to drink from a fire hose. Court reporters, scopists, and proofreaders all need to be able to find the right information without having to sift through thousands upon thousands of search results. Life is too short to spend hours determining the correct spelling of a specialized piece of construction equipment or a rare disease. I’ve developed some tactics to improve search results and decrease my search time that I hope will be of use to you.

Asterisk: Google calls the asterisk the “Wildcard Operator.” I call it the “Or something like that” mark. Adding an asterisk in the place of a term you’re not sure about or in the place of a missing word brings more results. This is my go-to tool when those first few attempts come up empty.

Quotes: Perhaps the easiest way to cut through the mountains of search results is to use quotation marks. This returns results that are the exact phrase. The quote and asterisk power combo is my most lethal Google weapon. For example, if you don’t remember the exact words of a quote, use the asterisk for those uncertain words. For example, I search: Einstein quote “if you* a fish * * *” and I get:

I love that quote!

Site: The site function allows you to search a specific website for results. For example, if you wanted to find all the memes on this website, you’d enter “site:bffproofreading.com meme.” If you’re looking for a phrase, you can enclose your search term in quotes for more precise results. You don’t need to add http or www, saving you up to seven keystrokes. Seven!

I find the site function handy in a variety of circumstances, particularly if I’m looking up an acronym or phrase that’s common to more than one field or industry. Looking on industry-specific sites eliminates many irrelevant search results. I also use it when I’m trying to find out if a geographic region should be capitalized. If you aren’t familiar with that state or region, it can be difficult to ascertain. For example, I know which regions in Texas are capped (West Texas, North Texas, etc.), but someone from another part of the country might not know. I find that the major newspaper in the capital city is a good source for that information because it will most likely cover news from all over the state and will be familiar with recognized regions. Unfortunately, a lot of media websites have subpar internal search engines, so it’s easier to use Google. Use the site function to limit your search to a specific site. For example, if I want to see how the Austin American-Statesman treats East Texas, I’ll search for “site:statesman.com east Texas.”

Related: Related to the site search, you can use “related:” to search similar sites. If your go-to industry site isn’t producing results, use the related function to find related websites. For example, related:stateman.com brings up other Texas media websites.

Hyphen: If you keep getting results you know are incorrect, you can use a hyphen to eliminate those words. Say you’re looking up breakfast pastries but you don’t want results on donuts. You’d enter “breakfast pastry -donut -doughnut.” You have to put both terms in because we have yet to come to a consensus on the proper spelling of donut/doughnut. Does that seem right to you?

Customized search engines: These are search engines that focus on specific sites to return more relevant results. Google Scholar is a customized search engine for scholarly literature across a variety of fields. You have the ability to search case law for specific courts in addition to searching journal articles and the like. GoogleMT is a site created and maintained by a medical transcriptionist. It’s quite handy! In addition to finding the proper spelling of case law, diseases, and body parts, I find these search engines helpful in determining the prevailing punctuation or capitalization for specialized terms and phrases. You can also create your own specialized search engine for whatever topic you like.

These are a few tips that help me get quick, accurate search results. What tool do you use that I’ve skipped? Share your tips in the comments!