Prompt: This week, try out each of the following ways to use Google (and any others you find interesting along the way). When you are finished, tell us what you found.
1. Use “Google site:” to search for a word
This is a Google search that searches only a single website. For example, if you are researching Google and want to see every time TIME.com mentions it, search for: “Google site:TIME.com.” For example, if you were searching Time.com for mentions of former President Obama, you’d use “Obama site:Time.com.” Use it to search for something related to your personal interests or career.
(Link us to the search results. Tell us what the word was, where you searched, how often and in what context it appeared!)
2. Use “DEFINE:” to learn the meaning of words—slang included
Streamline the dictionary process by using, for example, “DEFINE: Intelligence.” For words that appear in the dictionary, you’ll be able to see etymology (a history of the word’s origin) and a graph of its use over time alongside the definition. Google will even sift the web to define slang words or acronyms. Try out “DEFINE: bae” or “DEFINE: SMH”.
3. Search newspaper accounts back to the mid 1880s:
Google News Archive Search: (Search for things like “second-hand smoke,” or “smog,” or “urban redevelopment” or “eminent domain” or something you’re currently dealing with at work or school. Tell us what you find–how long has this been a problem? How many articles exist? Link us to the search results. ).
4. Google Books Ngram Viewer:
(This site will create a line chart comparing how often certain words show up in books from the 1800s to the present–currently, that’s 2008. Enter at least five terms, for example: red, blue, yellow, green, orange (don’t use these), and let us know what you find. You might try business names or terms . . . Link us to the search results. )
5. Google Image Search (or at the top left of Google.com):
Images: Right click on one of the images found in this page Google Search of Historical Paintings and then select “Copy image”:
Then go to Google’s “Image Search” and paste the image to see the results. Paste the picture into your discussion response, if you can, and tell us what information you’ve learned about it.
Now—in terms of work or your personal life, explain when and how these search capabilities might be useful? Also, if you use other Google techniques, please let us know.
