AI Skill Report Card
Conducting Web Searches
Quick Start
Basic search: climate change effects
Exact phrase: "climate change effects on agriculture"
Site-specific: site:nature.com climate change
File type: filetype:pdf renewable energy report
Time range: after:2020 before:2023 covid vaccines
Recommendation▾
Add concrete input/output examples showing actual search queries and what types of results they return, not just the search syntax
Workflow
Basic Search Strategy
-
Start broad, then narrow
- Begin with 2-3 key terms
- Add modifiers based on initial results
- Use quotes for exact phrases
-
Use search operators
"exact phrase"- Find exact matchessite:domain.com- Search specific websitesfiletype:pdf- Find specific file typesintitle:keyword- Search page titles-unwanted- Exclude termsOR- Search alternatives
-
Evaluate results
- Check source credibility
- Look at publication dates
- Cross-reference information
Progress:
- Define search terms
- Perform initial search
- Refine with operators
- Evaluate top results
- Cross-reference findings
Recommendation▾
Include specific examples of evaluating source credibility with actual websites/indicators to look for
Examples
Example 1: Academic Research
Input: Need peer-reviewed articles on machine learning bias
Output: site:scholar.google.com "machine learning bias" filetype:pdf after:2020
Example 2: Technical Documentation
Input: Find Python pandas documentation for data cleaning
Output: site:pandas.pydata.org "data cleaning" OR "missing values" OR "duplicates"
Example 3: News Research
Input: Recent developments in renewable energy policy
Output: "renewable energy policy" after:2023 site:reuters.com OR site:bloomberg.com
Recommendation▾
Expand the workflow with more specific guidance on when to use different search operators and how to combine them effectively
Best Practices
- Use specific terminology - Technical terms yield better results than general language
- Check multiple sources - Don't rely on single search results
- Vary your search terms - Try synonyms and related concepts
- Use date filters - Especially important for rapidly changing topics
- Leverage specialized search engines - Google Scholar for academics, GitHub for code
- Save effective searches - Document successful search strings for future use
Common Pitfalls
- Don't ignore the second page - Relevant results often appear beyond page 1
- Don't use too many operators - Can over-restrict results
- Don't trust everything - Always verify information from multiple sources
- Don't forget about search history - Previous searches influence results
- Don't ignore advanced search tools - Web interfaces often provide more options than basic search