Call me crazy, but I really get a thrill out of being able to verify an obscure name or unfamiliar term in a transcript. I think the ability to research is one of those things that sorts out the good transcriptionists from the really great transcriptionists.
A friend of mine introduced me to this spreadsheet on About.com a few years ago. It includes many useful tips on how to use Google most effectively in your research. I printed it out and stuck it in the front cover of my transcription binder, and I still refer to it on an almost daily basis.
| Google Shortcut | Finds Pages That Have... |
| nokia phone | the words nokia and phone |
| sailing OR boating | either the word sailing or the word boating |
| "love me tender" | the exact phrase love me tender |
| printer -cartridge | the word printer but NOT the word cartridge |
| Toy Story +2 | movie title including the number 2 |
| ~auto | looks up the word auto and synonyms |
| define:serendipity | definitions of the word serendipity |
| how now * cow | the words how now cow separated by one or more words |
| + | addition; 978+456 |
| - | subtraction; 978-456 |
| * | multiplication; 978*456 |
| / | division; 978/456 |
| % of | percentage; 50% of 100 |
| ^ | raise to a power; 4^18 (4 to the eighteenth power) |
| old in new (conversion) | 45 celsius in Fahrenheit |
| site:(search only one website) | site:websearch.about.com “invisible web” |
| link:(find linked pages) | link:www.lifehacker.com |
| #...#(search within a number range) | nokia phone $200...$300 |
| daterange:(search within specific date range) | bosnia daterange:200508-200510 |
| safesearch: (exclude adult content) | safesearch:breast cancer |
| info: (find info about a page) | info:www.websearch.about.com |
| related: (related pages) | related:www.websearch.about.com |
| cache: (view cached page) | cache:google.com |
| filetype:(restrict search to specific filetype) | zoology filetype:ppt |
| allintitle: (search for keywords in page title) | allintitle:"nike" running |
| inurl:(restrict search to page URLs) | inurl:chewbacca |
| site:.edu (specific domain search) | site:.edu, site:.gov, site:.org, etc. |
| site:country code (restrict search to country) | site:.br “rio de Janeiro” |
| intext:(search for keyword in body text) | intext:parlor |
| allintext: (return pages with all words specified in body text) | allintext:north pole |
| book(search book text) | book The Lord of the Rings |
| phonebook:(find a phone number) | phonebook:Google CA |
| bphonebook: (find business phone numbers) | bphonebook:Intel OR |
| rphonebook:(find residential phone numbers) | rphonebook:Joe Smith Seattle WA |
| movie:(search for showtimes) | movie:wallace and gromit 97110 |
| stocks:(get a stock quote) | stocks:ncesa |
| weather:(get local weather) | weather:97132 |
1 Comment:
Nice. I love things in table format where I can quick reference them.
Also? For folks who are given templates to use - I've found Google Docs to be invaluable. Upload them to Google docs and then you can access them anywhere.
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