LANGUAGE CENTER - STANFORD UNIVERSITY

As a Tool for Academic Writing

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Introduction   |   Basics 1    |   Basics 2    |   Basics 3

Introduction

Maybe you think you already know how to use Google effectively. If so, then you can go through this section quickly. But don't skip it.

According to Milstein & Dornfest (2004), "Google is about as hard to use as your refrigerator" (p. 15). They continue with their description of running a basic text search:

1. Point your browser to www.google.com. ...
2. Type in the word or words you want to search for (up to ten of them), and then press Enter or click Google Search. ...
3. Scroll through your results and then click on any link to jump to that page. ... Congratulations. You've just used one percent of Google's power. And that's as far as 99 percent of the population ever goes. (pp. 15-18).

This part of the site will take you into some of the rest of Google's power. Remember, our goal here is to focus on using Google as a tool for language development. This is not about using Google for finding general information or doing academic research.

Basics 1 covers the use of quotes for searches, use of cached files

Basics 2 takes you behind the scenes for advanced search and preferences

Basics 3 returns to use of search combinations and negative terms

Before going to Basics 1 though, you can go to Google's own introduction at www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html, or if you're feeling really adventurous, explore their whole help page at www.google.com/intl/en/help/index.html. If you get through all of that, you'll actually know a lot more than I'll show you here.

Before we begin, let's clarify the terminology. The Google folks have their own conception of basics which they put at www.google.com/intl/en/help/basics.html. I use the term to mean the basic knowledge and skills you need to search effectively for conventional language forms and for a few other purposes in writing.

Reference: Milstein, Sara & Dornfest, Rael (2004). Google: the Missing Manual. Sebastopol CA: O'Reilly Media.