Most Popular Search Engine: Google

The most popular search engine since February 2014, Google has made it simple for those three
out of four students who just cant search a web site effectively.

Use Operators To Search

Using search terms called operators, Google users can find abundant, easy-to-follow tips at
http://dailyinfographic.com/get-more-out-of-google-infographic. For example, avoid asking the
search engine a questione.g., when does it rain in Spain? Instead, change the wording to a
declarative phrasemonths when rain falls in Spain. And if you might want to define a word,
heres a dictionary-handy Google method: Type in the word define followed by a colon; then
type in the word youre searching for. Want an academic article without using the slower ERIC?
Try Google Scholar and google it by authors name or, better, by putting authors full name or
initials in quotation marks. And to save time, the Google Guide allows you to effectively query
Google to get what you want (http://www.googleguide.com/category/query-input/)

Save Time
Frankly, I rarely use Google and opt instead for AOL. However, among the Google topics to
which I have recently been exposed, I find many suggestions for getting more out of Google.
Theyre helpful time-savers. For example, I tire readily of using ERIC; Google Scholar, though,
will search only the scholarly and academic material for me and this saves time when doing
doctoral research. Although I wanted to know how to take screen shots, Goggles quick-and-easy
directions did not get me there. I did like the recommendation about definitions: to put define
in front of the explanation I am trying to locate.

Google Also Helpful for Teaching College-Level Journalism, English

As a career-long journalism and English composition instructor, Im wondering now if I could
use some variation of Google docs (documents) in the lower-level classes of both subjects. Of
course, each student would have to be present with a computer in order to collaborate class-wide
and simultaneously (or sometimes even later). Google docs will let me observe the collaborative
writing process and help each student at that moment or leave an individual written comment if
he/she is stuck or needs advice. I dont know enough about teaching ESL to make
recommendations on the helpfulness of certain Google features.