Online Searching Tips for Every Journalist
Online Searching Tips for Every Journalist
Journalists have
to go online for conducting research on a story. The worldwide web is the place
to begin for every journalist looking to expand on the story they are
following. However, lots of time gets wasted in filtering the topics that the
search engines display as most of them are just for marketing and
advertisements. So every journalist has to know how to use these search engines
to their advantage in order to get the latest digital India news on the
internet.
Basic Techniques
Digital India Google, Bing, Yahoo and almost
all other search engines employ an algorithm that looks for web pages that
contain the term or phrase searched for and these are designed to show the most
relevant results. You have to think in the way the writer who might have your
answer would have written it in his/her article. Prior to entering your search,
think about the nature of web pages that might contain your answer and the
style they would have been written in. Narrowing this down will help you decide
on a much more specific set of words to search for and get better results.
Use Functions
Most search
engines provide various functions that can help to search for what you want
more specifically. A space between words normally signifies to the search
engine the “AND” function. The search engine will then search for web pages
where all the words you entered appear together to get you the latest
technology news and updates digital India. You can also use the “AND”
function in your search to force the search engine to search in that way.
The “OR”
function can be used to search in a wider way as this will make the search
engine yield results that contain any of the terms you entered. This could,
however, remove relevant results.
The “AROUND”
function is another explicit function that commands the search engine to look
for the terms entered in more detail. The “AROUND” function is followed by the
number of words within which the two terms should be placed. For example, if
you search “[fire] AROUND (5) [building]” it will return results where “fire”
and “building” have appeared within 5 words of each other.
Phrases and Wildcards
Use phrases when
looking for particular quotes or a long line of words in a sequence. Enclose
the phrase within quote marks to do so. Wildcards are symbols that inform the
search engine to look for more or less of the search term entered. The asterisk
(*) symbol implies that you are looking for some more terms along with the term
you have entered. Use this when you are unaware of the extra terms.
The aforementioned suggestions are nifty ways
to get you around the vast network of the virtual world faster and more
efficiently. As a journalist, you will find these practical steps useful in
your daily job so remember to use them the next time you venture on a search
for, say, the latest new business trending stories in India.
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