Study guide · 3.1
Determine digital information needs and requirements
Finding good information starts with knowing what you need and choosing the right words to search for. Search filters and operators then narrow millions of results to the few that matter.
A study feature written by ExamDragon, not part of the real exam. Each heading is one of Certiport's skills for this objective.
3.1.1Understand key search terms
- Pick the key ideas of your question and use them as search terms, leaving out filler words.
- Use specific terms: 'laser printer cost per page' finds more useful results than 'printers'.
- Try synonyms and related terms if the first search does not work.
- Put a phrase in quotation marks to find those words together in that order.
- Use a minus sign before a word to exclude it, for example jaguar -car.
- Many search engines support site: to search one site, such as site:gov.
Example: Looking for school rules on mobile phones, a student searches "mobile phone policy" school site:edu instead of 'can I use my phone at school'.
3.1.2Demonstrate how to filter search results
- Most search engines offer tabs or filters for images, videos, news, shopping and maps.
- Filter by date to get recent results, which matters for news and technology.
- Filter by file type, for example filetype:pdf, to find reports and forms.
- Image searches can be filtered by size, colour and usage rights.
- Library databases and shopping sites have their own filters, such as subject, author, price or rating.
- Sponsored results (ads) are usually labelled; do not confuse them with ranked results.
Example: A learner needs recent statistics, so she sets the date filter to the past year and the file type to PDF.
Key terms
- Search term
- A word or phrase you enter to find information.
- Keyword
- An important word that captures the main idea of what you want.
- Search operator
- A symbol or word, such as quotes or a minus sign, that changes how a search works.
- Filter
- A setting that narrows results by type, date, size or another property.
- Sponsored result
- A paid advertisement shown among search results.
Easy to confuse
- Asking a full question works on some engines but precise keywords are usually faster and clearer.
- The first result is not automatically the best or most reliable.
- Quotation marks make a search narrower, not broader.
After this guide: You can choose effective search terms and use operators and filters to narrow results.