If in doubt Google it! It is a good motto to have provided you have an internet connection. Doesn’t have to be Google but the principle holds. I am often faced with new tasks or worse i knew once but have forgotten. I keep a notebook of web links and pasted information under a heading of ‘how to’, but I often need to seek further guidance. Stretching your skill-set is a way of investing in yourself. I do it all the time, so should you!
So let’s say you have do something in Adobe Photoshop which is unfamiliar or worse you did a few months ago and have forgotten! It could be true of any software and many other skills. Using a ‘how to . . .’ search in Google will surface most answers. You simply need to select the best ones and compare a few posts. The first answer you read is not always the best. Here is some guidance on using Google, or any other search engine to its best.
Boolean Searches
Boolean searches allow you to combine words and phrases using the words AND, OR, NOT and NEAR (otherwise known as Boolean operators) to limit, widen, or define your search. George Boole was an English mathematician in the 19th century who developed “Boolean Logic” in order to combine certain concepts and exclude certain concepts when searching databases. Most search engines use Boolean Logic. Using Boolean Search terms you have two choices: you can use the standard Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, or NEAR), or you can use their mathematical equivalents.
- The Boolean search operator AND is equal to the “+” symbol.
- The Boolean search operator NOT is equal to the “-” symbol.
- The Boolean search operator OR is the default setting of any search engine; meaning, all search engines will return all the words you type in, automatically.
- The Boolean search operator NEAR is equal to putting a search query in quotes (i.e., “blood splatter analysis”). You’re essentially telling the search engine that you want all of these words, in this specific order or this specific phrase.
In summary, therefore, using AND narrows a search by combining terms; it will retrieve documents that use both the search terms you specify. Using OR broadens a search to include results that contain either of the words you type in. And finally using NOT will narrow a search by excluding certain search terms.
Example
So you what to create a plate of photographs to go in your coursework. You have read the guidance and attended the lectures but you are still struggling? Then ask Google. If you don’t quite get what you are looking for the first time, re-phrase the question and also think laterally – ‘this is not quite right but I could use this technique and may be that one . . . to solve my problem’.
Once you have found something that is useful and quite informative it is a good idea to keep hold of it for future reference. Now copying the URL to a notebook, especially an electronic one is a good idea. Don’t just rely on bookmarks because they are browser and computer specific. I also paraphrase some of the information to make my own crib-sheet especially if its something I am likely to use a lot.
“There is so much information out there on the web!”
“Use it discerningly!”
“Also remember in software there is often more than one way of doing the same thing; one way is not necessarily any better than another so don’t stress.”
Professor Sandcastle 