Designing a Survival
Plan
Your willingness to spend a few minutes designing your search strategy will increase your chances of surviving an Internet information avalanche.
Survivor Challenge #1: Determine what information you want to find.
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I want to find information about shark attacks in California.
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What are the symptoms of mononucleosis?
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Where can I find training techniques for dogs?
Survivor Challenge #2: Highlight your keywords.
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I want to find information about shark attacks in California.
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What are the symptoms of mononucleosis?
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Where can I find training techniques for dogs?
Survivor Challenge #3: List synonyms and alternate word forms for each keyword.
| Keyword | Synonyms |
| training | instruction | education | coaching |
| techniques | methods | ways | style |
| dogs | canines | puppies | hounds |
Survivor Challenge #4: Boolean operators and and or help you get precise results from an Internet search by letting you expand or narrow your search results. Here's a brief overview of the 2 Boolean operators and a chance to try each one in Alta Vista. You will notice that Alta Vista's Advanced Search screen makes it easy for you to devise efficient Boolean searches without actually entering the Boolean words:
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AND narrows your search by retrieving web pages that contain all your keywords.
Example: training and techniques and dogs
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OR expands your search by allowing you to search for a keyword and its synonyms at the same time.
Practice
AND