The first basic tool to practice with the simple search is the use of + and - to include or exclude words. For example, if you wanted to find sites about backgammon, you'd type +backgammon into the query box. Try it now, and record how many sites you find. Notice also that the ad at the bottom of the screen changes in response to your query. That's who's paying for this terrific service! Try another. Suppose you wanted to find sites about the lost continent of Atlantis, not the shuttle Atlantis. Try these: Note: There's no space between the + and the word, but there is a space between words. E.g.: +Atlantis <space> -shuttle <space> +continent

Query # Matches +backgammon Query # Matches +Atlantis +Atlantis -shuttle +Atlantis -shuttle +continent +Atlantis -shuttle +continent -film -movie

A common mistake people make is to inadvertantly narrow their search too much by excluding variations on a word they're looking for. For example, if you typed in +mushrooms, you'd miss all those pages that just had the singular word mushroom on them. The * wildcard stands for any letter(s). The wildcard is also useful for catching other variations on word such as different forms of a verb. In general, never search for the plural of a word. Use the wildcard and get both forms.

Query # Matches +mushrooms +mushroom* +surf* +surf* -surface*

AltaVista pays attention to any capital letters you type into a query. If you search for Octopus, it will only find documents in which it's spelled that way. In general, unless you're after a particular spelling, use all lower case. Try these:

Query # Matches +Octopus +octopus +WebQuest +webquest +webquest*

If you type a sequence of words in as a query, AltaVista will look for documents that contain any of those words. If you want the words to hang together as a phrase, you should put double quotes around them. Try these:

Query # Matches I sing the body electric "I sing the body electric"

Looking for a picture to illustrate your page? If the creator of a page was thoughtful enough to name the image file sensibly, you'll be able to search by putting "Image:" in front of the term you're looking for. (Ask the page author for permission to use the image, of course.) This only finds things by their file name, though, and there's nothing to stop someone from naming their picture of Monica Lewinski Hillary.jpeg. Note: There can be a space between image: and the next word or not. It doesn't seem to matter. It does matter that you don't capitalize image!!!

Query # Matches image:whale image:whale -whaler* image:bernie* +Dodge

A simple search will find a word anywhere on the web page. To locate pages that are primarily about one thing, look for pages that have that thing in their title. The result is much more tightly focussed. Note: There can be a space between title: and the next word or not. It doesn't seem to matter. It does matter that you don't capitalize title!!! Try these:

Query # Matches frog* title:frog* Devaney title:Devaney Title:Devaney