Search Operators

Research is a valuable skill in both  Speech and Debate, and will also be something that you can take with you as you one day enter into the working world.

Here are some helpful tools that will allow you to have closer to laser-like focus on content on the web that you are trying to find.

Basic Search Tools

Date Filtering

Returns only search results that match the date criteria you specified.

Verbatim

Returns only search results that match the date criteria you specified.

Common Search Operators

Site:

Returns only search results from a particular website

Search Structure:

[search keywords] site:

Example: 

energy policy site:cato.org

Exclude

Excludes search results that include a particular term.

Search Structure:

[search keywords] -[term that you want to exclude]

Example: 

energy policy -wikipedia

Includes

Returns search results that include all terms within quotes in the exact given order. 

Search Structure:

“[search keywords]”

Example: 

“national energy policy”

AND

Search results must include all terms connected by a space (unless the space is inside quotes). 

Search Structure:

“[search keywords]” “[search keyword]”

Example: 

“national energy policy” “United States”

OR

Search results can include any terms connected by the OR operator or the | pipe symbol. 

Search Structure:

“[search keywords]” OR “[search keywords]”

“[search keywords]” | “[search keywords]”

Example: 

“national energy policy” OR “United States”

“national energy policy” | “United States”

Particular Type of Site

Returns only search results from a particular website. 

Search Structure:

[search keywords] site:[.gov, .mil, .edu]

Example: 

“national energy policy” site:.gov

File Type

Returns only search results that match a particular file extension. 

Search Structure:

[search keywords] filetype: .pdf

Example: 

“national energy policy” filetype: .pdf

Proximity

The AROUND(#) takes a number indicating how many words can separate the terms. 

Search Structure:

[search keywords] AROUND(5) [search keyword]

Example: 

“national energy policy” AROUND(5) “United States”