Learning how to write research papers and essays can be overwhelming for students with low vision or print disabilities that impact access to standard print. Research databases, search engine results pages, and even just webpages in general can be extremely overwhelming visually, making it difficult for users to find the information they are looking for. As part of my Writing Success series, here is how I run effective web searches to find information for papers, as well as how I use these search techniques in other contexts.
What am I looking for?
When I’m doing research tasks for classes, it helps to have a general idea of what type of information I am looking for and how I plan to use it. This usually involves creating a list of 5-7 relevant keywords that help me narrow down what exactly I am looking for. Here are some examples of what that might look like:
Study help
When I am confused on a concept in class, I will gravitate towards looking for study guides, blog posts, flashcards, or resources from either my own school or other schools that explain the concept in different ways. This could include searching the name of my textbook with the corresponding chapter, headings from the book, or vocabulary words/terms.
Looking for research sources
For research projects, I use a list of keywords that connect to my area of interest that help me to find targeted search results. For a project on adapting physical education activities for visually impaired students, this included keywords such as visual impairment, physical education, physical activities, and visually disabled children. These are keywords or tags that had been attached to papers on my area of interest, so I could use them to search for related content.
I know what I want, but not how to get it
When I was working on another project that had a broader scope, I thought about the types of results I would like to see, and how I would describe them. For example, I was looking for results on teaching kids about farm animals, so I thought about words, phrases, and organizations that may provide me with a starting point.
Related links
- How I Use Pinterest For Studying In College
- The Best Study Tips For Low Vision Students
- How I Find Research Sources In Accessible Formats
- Online College Library Resources For Digital Access
Choosing a search engine
Search engines can be visually complex with the sheer amount of content, ads, and other visual sidebars making it difficult for users to read single lines of text. While I don’t endorse any specific search engine for low vision accessibility, some examples of search engines that may be easier to read include:
- DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo offers tracking protection and a simpler visual interface than other search engines.
- Kiddle. Targeted at kids under 13 doing research for school, Kiddle features larger font sizes and a simplified display, as well as content filtering for younger users.
- Custom themes or settings for other search engines such as Google or Bing, which can hide unnecessary graphics or change the color theme of the search page.
For users with motion or light sensitivity, especially to strobe and/or flashing content, I strongly recommend disabling auto-play features in web browsers or in device settings, which can help minimize unwanted gifs or videos playing without the user’s consent.
Related links
- DuckDuckGo — Privacy, simplified.
- Kiddle – visual search engine for kids
- My Favorite Digital Library Resources For Low Vision
- Tips For Using Social Media With Photosensitivity
Searching words/phrases with quotation marks
One of the fastest ways that users can refine their web searches is by adding quotation marks around words or phrases that they want to find. The search engine will look for exact matches for whatever text is in the quotation marks, and display those in the results.
For example, when I was looking for resources on contrast ratios for low vision, my first results kept providing results for high contrast in the context of photography, as well as several photos of bananas, which didn’t relate to what I was searching for at all. Using the phrase “web accessibility contrast ratio” provided me with much more relevant results for my search.
Related links
- High Contrast and Low Vision
- How I Read Research Sources With Assistive Technology
- How I Outline Research Papers With OneNote
Finding specific website types/domain extensions
When searching for content from government websites or educational institutions, it is helpful to filter sources based on domain extensions such as gov or edu, which are reserved for these types of searches. In these cases, I will type the phrase site:gov for government sides or site:edu for educational sites, followed by my query.
Related links
- US Government Programs For Blind/Low Vision Residents
- Services Provided By State Department/State Unit for Visual Impairment
- How I Write Research Papers On Accessibility Topics
Searching within a specific website
There are a few websites that I consider my “go-to” for studying or learning about a specific topic, and I want to view results only from one specific website. This could be a set of flashcards on Quizlet, a post from my website, or an article from a news source. There are two different ways that users can search a website without using the website’s default search bar:
- Use the keyword “site:” (without quotation marks) and type in the URL for the website, followed by a space and the search query of interest. For example, searching “site:veroniiiica.com math” without quotation marks would provide results for content on my website that mentions math.
- In some web browsers like Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, type the name of a site without the www prefix, and then press the tab key to search directly on the website. This is not available for all websites, but this will display results directly on the website’s search page instead of on a search engine page.
Related posts
- How I Use Quizlet With Low Vision
- My Favorite Web Browser Extensions For Virtual Learning
- Free Digital Bookmarking Tools For Low Vision
- How I Create Citations For Research Papers
Searching multiple websites
Sometimes I want to search for a keyword across a specific subset of websites, such as my favorite study websites, blogs/organizations on visual impairment, or specific news outlets. In this situation, I pair the “site:” keyword with the OR operator to search multiple websites that I list out.
To search multiple websites:
- Type the keyword of interest.
- Add an open parenthesis and write the keyword site:
- List the websites/domains to include in the search separated by the | symbol (known as OR operator). For example, if I wanted to search my site and Perkins School for the Blind, I would write (site: veroniiiica.com | site:perkins.org)
- Add parenthesis to the end of the query.
Related links
- How I Write Research Papers On Accessibility Topics
- How I Access Historical Documents With Low Vision
- How I Use Pinterest For Studying In College
Searching by file type
Whenever possible, I prefer to read documents in a DOCX or HTML format over PDF, because I have more flexibility with text styles and spacing, especially when it comes to readings for my classes. This is also helpful for finding text with math equations, which are often inserted with an equation editor tool so I can read or enlarge them more easily.
To search by file type:
- Type the phrase filetype (all one word) followed by a colon
- Type the file format extension that is being requested, such as DOCX, PDF, or PNG. Do not use terms like “document”, “image”, or software names like Microsoft Word.
- Add a space between the file extension and the search query of interest.
For example, to find docx files related to functional visual assessment templates, I would search filetype:docx “functional visual assessment” either with or without the quotation marks. This is also helpful for finding study resources like slideshows (ppt), datasets (csv), and software templates.
Related links
- File Formats For Low Vision and Print Disabilities
- How I Find Research Sources In Accessible Formats
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
- Seven Unexpected Disability Accommodations For Virtual Learning
Using a hyphen to exclude words
When I was searching for information about a specific company, I kept getting results for a company that had a similar name but that was completely unrelated to what I was looking for. Using the hyphen to exclude words from a search query can help users find more specific results and remove extraneous or unnecessary information. For example, if I was searching for information on Python loops and kept getting results for Java included in my search, I could type “python loops -java” without the quotation marks.
Finding pages that are linked to other pages
Has this content been shared anywhere else? Another helpful way to run effective web searches is to search for other websites or pages that have linked to a URL, whether that is a website in general or a specific page on a website. This can be done by typing the word “link” without quotation marks, followed by a colon and no spacing between the URL. For example, if I wanted to find other pages that linked to my website, I would run a search for “link:www.veroniiiica.com” without quotations. This can also be used for social media profiles and posts.
Summary of how to run effective web searches
- To find exact words or phrases in search results, add quotation marks around words or phrases, i.e. “web accessibility contrast ratio”
- Users can find results from a specific domain and website by writing the word site followed by a colon, such as “site:veroniiiica.com math” or “site:edu assistive technology” without quotation marks
- In order to find files that match a specific file type, use the word filetype followed by a colon, such as “filetype:docx” for finding docx files
- Use a hyphen to exclude words from a search, such as “python loops -java”
- To find pages that are linked to other pages, search for the word link followed by a colon and the website, such as “link:www.veroniiiica.com” without quotation marks
More tips on how to run effective web searches
- Learning to run effective web searches is an important tech skill for individuals with low vision, and can also help promote online safety. Learn more about technology skills in Ten Information Technology Skills Every College Student Needs
- Librarians are a fantastic resource for students who are looking to improve their research skills or identifying keywords. This is especially helpful for college students, and I mention this in my post Awesome On-Campus College Library Resources
- Virtual assistance tools like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant can also provide quick results for search queries, which I share in How Amazon Alexa Can Help You Study For Exams
- Looking for a book or other content that is available in an accessible format? I share a list of strategies for finding accessible content in How I Find Research Sources In Accessible Formats and How To Find Accessible Picture Books For Low Vision
Published June 9, 2020. Updated December 2024