March 9 Assignment - Blog 4 - Advanced Search Techniques

I was not aware until I read this chapter that there is a vehicle for performing advanced searches on search engines.   Although most of my searches are fairly simple, I have had occasions when I've asked a question or needed more thorough information on a topic and have felt frustrated that I knew it was out there on the Web somewhere but I just didn't know how to get it.   This section of Chapter 3 was very helpful to me.   I learned that more detailed or complex searches require a better understanding of formulating the search query.  Search engines provide tips and shortcuts for advanced search.   One tip is the use of  Boolean operator.  As I understand their use, Boolean operators are inserted into a search query to tell the search engine what keywords to look for and what keywords to exclude.    Not all search engines handle Boolean operators in the same way so you must review a search engine's 'Help' page to understand how that particular search engine uses Boolean operators.    I found a tutorial through a Google search on Boolean operators that was very helpful to me.   The link is as follows:
http://www.internettutorials.net/boolean.asp.   Since I use Google most often, I found the Google search tips and shortcuts.   That link is:  http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=136861

The "And" operator means a keyword must be found in the search results.  The "Or" operator is used to search an "either/or" situation.   Using the "or" operator in between words specifies that either of those keywords should be used.  To exclude a keyword from a search, some search engines require you to use the "Not" operator before the excluded keyword. A search engine usually offers an advanced search form to be used to create a complex query.

I had trouble performing an advanced search on Bing.  I entered the exact query shown in the text to begin the search process.  Bing displayed the number of results but did not offer an advanced tab.   I tried clicking on other tabs but could not find an advanced search button anywhere.   Maybe someone who had success with this could tell me where to look.

I had better luck on Google.  I used the same search query and the query resulted in results that were displayed.   On the right hand side of the page, there was an options button and once clicked on, it offered an advanced search option.

Then I went ahead with the advanced search and this is what I found:

I've run out of room!   There is so much more I'd like to learn about advanced search and I'm going to experiment and blog.   I hope you'll follow my blog and give me feedback!