How to Be an 'Extreme Googler'

By Jaimie Bell I October 17, 2005

The "Extreme Googling" class is taught by Librarians Karen Heskett (L) and Nancy Stimson (R). The UCSD Biomedical Library offers free classes to faculty, staff, and students each quarter. The current class schedule can be viewed at http://biomed.ucsd.edu/services/instruc.htm.

There aren't many people who haven't used Google. In fact, when asking for information on a subject, many will suggest to go "Google it." But behind its deceptively simple interface (with the fun logo that changes during the holidays), lies an expansive high-tech system that would make any IT junkie's head spin.

Now, the Biomedical Library is offering free classes on how to navigate and completely exploit Google to your advantage. During the class, appropriately entitled "Extreme Googling," you will learn about the tricks Google has integrated into their system and other features you may not know about.

Say you are having a hard time getting through the 16,708,209 pages Google found on your latest search. (Hey, it's supposed to be thorough) Try using the "advanced search" feature that lets you narrow your results. For example, you can choose to get results from only government sites by typing ".gov" in the "Domain box." Or if you need to gather Powerpoint presentations or PDF's to help back up a presentation you are giving, use the "File Format" box to only bring up only those types of files.

Google usually excludes such words as "and" or "it" during its search, so if you want to search for an entire phrase (for example, the title of a book) place quotations around the phrase. You can also add a "+" before a word to make sure Google uses it during its search or a "-" to exclude it.

And the search bar isn't just for searching words or phrases. Need to find a phone number? Or a definition of a word? Google has an array of "operators" that you can plug in before your search term. For instance, if you need to find the phone number for a person or business, just type in "phonebook:john smith san diego." To find a definition of a word, type in "define:apoptosis."

The second part of the "Extreme Googling" class is dedicated to using Google Scholar. Although it is still in beta testing and not 100% reliable yet, Google Scholar lets you search full texts and citations from scholarly journals and Web sites. You can search by author, by keyword or both. A useful "operator" to use would be "author:smith" which would search for articles written by that person.

To learn more about these tricks and lots more, be sure to check the UCSD calendar for upcoming Google classes held by the Biomedical Library or contact them directly at biomed@ucsd.edu.

Want to know more about Google's latest endeavors? Go Google it.