Any search tip that makes online research more efficient is a welcome relief for teachers and students. Researching online with students can be a time consuming and sometimes frustrating task. The amount of information available on the Internet is mind boggling. Too often searches result in a lot of worthless or irrelevant information, or data of questionable trustworthiness. How can searches limit results to quality content?
Limit a search to a website
Site:search is a great way to save time and limit search results. This method restricts a search to a particular site or a specific type of site. It’s simple: in the search box, type site: followed by the limiting factor and search topic.
For example, if you want to just search the Smithsonian website for information on Wilbur and Orville Wright, type site:smithsonian.com wright brothers. Results yielded will be all references within the Smithsonian web archives, instead of the millions of suggested sites that will appear after a search for ‘wright brothers’. Left out are blog or opinion articles, all commercial sites using the name Wright Brothers, or any other unrelated sites. As an added bonus, since the source of all information will be the Smithsonian Museum, you know that the facts will be authentic and trustworthy.
Limit a search to a domain type
Instead of limiting a search to just one site, you can restrict it to a type of site. This eliminates a whole minefield of biased or unreliable sources. For example, if you are searching for information about forestry and you type gc.ca Canada lumber, you will receive only sites that are published on Canadian government websites. Such information is authoritative and saves time researching the credibility of sources.
Here are some ways to restrict searches to trusted websites appropriate for classroom use.
| Limit a Search to a Domain Type: | ||
| site:gov | site:org | site:edu |
| Limit a Search to Government Sites: | ||
| site:epa.gov | site:nasa.gov | site:loc.gov |
| Limit a Search to Organizations: | ||
| site:britishmuseum.org | site:pbs.org | site:worldwildlife.org |
| Limit a Search to Publications: | ||
| site:nationalgeographic.com | site:timeforkids.com | site:popsci.com |
| Limit a Search to Research-Based TV Shows: | ||
| site:history.com | site:biography.com | site:discovery.com |
Teach your students the site:search tip. Their online research will be more efficient and will yield better, more legitimate results. TechnoResearch is a technology project that introduces essential research skills to elementary and middle school students. Learn how to plan, retrieve, process, share, and evaluate information. Using this fun and engaging project, students will acquire skills that are transferable to any inquiry challenge in all areas of the curriculum. Read more about TechnoResearch here.