Limiting Internet Searches
GOOGLE ADVANCED SEARCH: http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861
It is vital to learn how to limit internet searches. NO ONE has time to search through a few hundred, thousand or million hits. The link above will take you to a help page from Google on limiting searches. The hints given will apply to most search engines and some websites. Some websites, such as Ancestry.com, have their own search limiters and wildcards. Use the help section on individual websites to find these features.
- Link for tool to customize Google Searches:
A few more clues:
- Add the words: survived, beloved, burial or interment when searching for obituaries. Use other "Event specific" words depending on the event...example "bride and groom" when searching for marriage events. Word order of keywords indicates its priority.
- Look for churches in a location and see if there is a graveyard next (near) to it.
- If you know the title of the page you are looking for-- search with "Title: "title of page""
- The tilde limiter (~) is especially helpful in genealogy. Use "~ born", "~ died" or even "~ genealogy".
- Add a "+" sign in front of words that MUST be included in your search. The order of search terms is important.
- A NEW google limiter: AROUND(#)... "query AROUND(1) query" will search for terms that are within the number of words indicated by the number in parenthesis. "Simeon AROUND(1) Blodgett" will search for "Simeon Blodgett," "Blodgett, Simeon" and "Simeon Blodgett" with a middle or spouses name. You can use higher number in the parentheses, but if you use too high a number it will not limit the search.
- Use image search to try and match old photos that you may have. Limit image searches using "search tools" under the search bar. Limiting a search to "Black and White images" may limit your results to older photos. You can upload images to Google images using the camera icon and search to see if someone else has posted the photo. If you don't know who is in the photo you might possibly find someone who does know.
- Search for women using the husband's name: "Mrs. John Doe"
- You can search US government sites by putting in your search terms and then adding: site:google.com/ig/usgov
MORE ON MAKING YOUR SEARCHES PRODUCTIVE:
There is no ONE best web-site for family history…THE BEST web-site is the one where you are finding the information you need. With that said—how do you find that “BEST WEB-SITE”?
1. Start at the beginning and put a foundation under your family history work. How will you know what you need to search for if you don’t know what you have in the first place? See
2. Follow the research cycle. (Identify what you know, Decide what you want to learn about your family, Select the records to search, Obtain and Search the records, Use and record the information, Start over) By following the steps of the research cycle, your searches will be more organized and focused and MUCH MORE LIKELY to produce results.
3. Learn to ask the right questions. Learn to evaluate and read between the lines. See Basics/ Evaluating Information http://www.preservingtime.org/evaluating-information.html
4. Learn to use the advance searches and search limiters when you search. An explanation of these can be found at http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861. Go to both the “Basics of Search” and “Advanced Search”. You may say, I use Google all the time, but unless you learn to use the limiters you are wasting a lot of time. The same limiters that apply to Google, apply to most search engines.
5. Be prepared with folders or other note taking programs to organize the information you find on the internet AS YOU FIND IT !!!! If you have a whole screen full of saved images with only the file codes to identify them, it will take a lot of time to open each one and rename them in a way that you can use them. SAVE IMAGES OR INFORMATION RATHER THAN LINKS ONLY !!!
6. READ CAREFULLY the information that you locate. What other clues does it give you?
7. Keep track of the web-sites that you search. Keep track of where you find information as well as sites searched that have no new information. You may want to return to these sites in the future as you find other information. Some sites are much better than others. It pays to record which websites are a waste of time so that you don’t keep returning to them. You cannot always get back to information from an internal address on a website. Keep track of the main address for the website.
8. If a search does not produce any results, change your search parameters and try again. Broadening or narrowing a search may produce different results. Try using variations in spelling names, try nicknames and abbreviations or try searching for another member of the family. Try, try and then try again—even a few more times.
Remember—Most of the better web-sites are being updated regularly. This is particularly true of familysearch.org. Check back for new information periodically.
A few more Specific SEARCHING TIPS:
GENERALLY LESS IS MORE. Try searches with less information and then narrow down the results. Search for other family members with unique names. Choose a database or location and then perform your search. Keep changing your search parameters.
CONTROL F: Use this shortcut to find information contained on any page. Type in a name or keyword; “they” say uppercase letters don’t make a difference, but I have had cases (especially in Newspaper Archive) where they did change the search.
IN ANCESTRY: Realize that many records in Ancestry were indexed by the Chinese. Spellings of names may be way off of what they actually should be. Learn to use the “?” or "*" wildcards. You must put in the first 3 letters of the name. The “?” replaces one letter (ie. Peters?n) The "*" replaces one or more letters. Many names were truncated in original records or when the records were indexed. Try putting in the first 3-5 letters of the name and then the asterisk. These same wildcards will work on some other sites (ie. Footnote) but not others (ie. Heritage Quest, Newspaper Archive and Google).
If you have your own subscription to Ancestry, try both the “Old Search” and “New Search.” You can switch between the different searches in the upper right of the screen.
REMEMBER that information in the Public, Private and One World Trees can give you clues and be very helpful, but most of it is not documented and some of it is pure fiction. Do not use undocumented “Tree” information without finding verification of the data. PLEASE ! do not add this data to NFS without first establishing its correctness.
LARGE DOWNLOADS: If you want to download a large file such as a map, please be patient. Start the download on one computer and then move to another computer to work (if one is available).
There is no ONE best web-site for family history…THE BEST web-site is the one where you are finding the information you need. With that said—how do you find that “BEST WEB-SITE”?
1. Start at the beginning and put a foundation under your family history work. How will you know what you need to search for if you don’t know what you have in the first place? See
2. Follow the research cycle. (Identify what you know, Decide what you want to learn about your family, Select the records to search, Obtain and Search the records, Use and record the information, Start over) By following the steps of the research cycle, your searches will be more organized and focused and MUCH MORE LIKELY to produce results.
3. Learn to ask the right questions. Learn to evaluate and read between the lines. See Basics/ Evaluating Information http://www.preservingtime.org/evaluating-information.html
4. Learn to use the advance searches and search limiters when you search. An explanation of these can be found at http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861. Go to both the “Basics of Search” and “Advanced Search”. You may say, I use Google all the time, but unless you learn to use the limiters you are wasting a lot of time. The same limiters that apply to Google, apply to most search engines.
5. Be prepared with folders or other note taking programs to organize the information you find on the internet AS YOU FIND IT !!!! If you have a whole screen full of saved images with only the file codes to identify them, it will take a lot of time to open each one and rename them in a way that you can use them. SAVE IMAGES OR INFORMATION RATHER THAN LINKS ONLY !!!
6. READ CAREFULLY the information that you locate. What other clues does it give you?
7. Keep track of the web-sites that you search. Keep track of where you find information as well as sites searched that have no new information. You may want to return to these sites in the future as you find other information. Some sites are much better than others. It pays to record which websites are a waste of time so that you don’t keep returning to them. You cannot always get back to information from an internal address on a website. Keep track of the main address for the website.
8. If a search does not produce any results, change your search parameters and try again. Broadening or narrowing a search may produce different results. Try using variations in spelling names, try nicknames and abbreviations or try searching for another member of the family. Try, try and then try again—even a few more times.
Remember—Most of the better web-sites are being updated regularly. This is particularly true of familysearch.org. Check back for new information periodically.
A few more Specific SEARCHING TIPS:
GENERALLY LESS IS MORE. Try searches with less information and then narrow down the results. Search for other family members with unique names. Choose a database or location and then perform your search. Keep changing your search parameters.
CONTROL F: Use this shortcut to find information contained on any page. Type in a name or keyword; “they” say uppercase letters don’t make a difference, but I have had cases (especially in Newspaper Archive) where they did change the search.
IN ANCESTRY: Realize that many records in Ancestry were indexed by the Chinese. Spellings of names may be way off of what they actually should be. Learn to use the “?” or "*" wildcards. You must put in the first 3 letters of the name. The “?” replaces one letter (ie. Peters?n) The "*" replaces one or more letters. Many names were truncated in original records or when the records were indexed. Try putting in the first 3-5 letters of the name and then the asterisk. These same wildcards will work on some other sites (ie. Footnote) but not others (ie. Heritage Quest, Newspaper Archive and Google).
If you have your own subscription to Ancestry, try both the “Old Search” and “New Search.” You can switch between the different searches in the upper right of the screen.
REMEMBER that information in the Public, Private and One World Trees can give you clues and be very helpful, but most of it is not documented and some of it is pure fiction. Do not use undocumented “Tree” information without finding verification of the data. PLEASE ! do not add this data to NFS without first establishing its correctness.
LARGE DOWNLOADS: If you want to download a large file such as a map, please be patient. Start the download on one computer and then move to another computer to work (if one is available).
