FILE THIS: Search Tips for more precision in Google and Google Scholar

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

 

The Boolean capacity of Google to do more focused searches than

before has improved recently.

 

Note that a Boolean search uses " AND " and OR " statements, like:

(xxx OR yyy OR zzz) AND (aaa OR bbb) AND (ccc OR ddd OR eee).

 

The " OR " statements, as above, MUST be enclosed in brackets: (xxx

OR yyy) but the " AND " statements are assumed by default. i.e.

 

(xxx OR yyyy OR zzz) AND (aaa OR bbb) AND (ccc OR ddd OR eee)

can be written as

(xxx OR yyyy OR zzz) (aaa OR bbb) (ccc OR ddd OR eee)

 

For example, if you search Google for the profile:

(acupuncture) (horse OR horses OR equine),

 

you get 1120000 hits (1240 in Google Scholar). Admittedly many (if not

most) of these are irrelevant in that the terms appear in a document but

may not be linked logically.

 

However, if you FOCUS the search, using the profile, INCLUDING the

QUOTEMARKS:

( " acupuncture in horses " OR " equine acupuncture " ),

 

you get 9090 hits (15 in Google Scholar). That search profile is more

likely to be productive than wading through >1 million hits!

 

You can focus further by adding clinical conditions of interest, for

example COPD or its synonyms. For example, a search for the profile:

 

(COPD OR heaves OR emphysema) ( " acupuncture in horses " OR

" equine acupuncture " )

gives 358 hits (but none in Google Scholar)

 

As a test, try the following 3 searches yourself, first on Google [

http://www.google.com/ ] and then on Google Scholar [

http:/scholar.google.com/ ]:

 

(COPD OR heaves OR emphysema) ((horses OR equine) ( " Low level

laser " OR " laser therapy " ))

 

(COPD OR heaves OR emphysema) ((horses OR equine) ( " herbal

medicine " OR " nutraceutical " ))

 

(herbal OR herbs OR kampo) ( " respiratory diseases " OR asthma OR

COPD OR bronchitis) (~child OR ~adult)

 

kampo (Tsumura) (~child OR ~adult) ( " respiratory diseases " OR

asthma OR COPD OR bronchitis)

 

kampo (Honso) (~child OR ~adult) ( " respiratory diseases " OR asthma

OR COPD OR bronchitis)

 

kampo (Tsumura OR Honso) (~child OR ~adult) ( " respiratory diseases "

OR asthma OR COPD OR bronchitis)

 

[For non-herbalists, Tsumura and Honso are two of the largest

manufacturers of herbal formulas in Japan].

 

Apart from searching for exact phrases, like

( " Complementary and Alternative Medicine " ) ( " therapy in cancer " )

have any of YOU better tips on how to focus Google searches even

more?

 

Best regards,