Tips for using my search engine.

David Bar-Tzur

Created 3 March 2005, links updated monthly with the help of LinkAlarm.

Thanks for visiting my site! I have finally gotten around to reading two years' worth of results sent to me by FreeFind. It has helped me see how people search for items and I realize that it would be worthwhile for me to offer some suggestions so that you can get the full benefit of such a search.

(1) Before you start your search, try reading the home page table of contents to see if your search topic is under any of the pages listed.

(2) Don't be too specific. If you search for interpreting for history, you will get every page that contains the word "interpreting" or "for" or "history". That's too much information. Better to just search for history, since almost everything in my site is about interpreting.

(3) Don't use quotes unless you only want to find that exact phrase. If you search for "sign for holocaust" you will not find anything that just contains holocaust, only places where that exact three-word phrase occurs. It will not help you find the sign for holocaust. If you are searching for the sign for something, please see Signs for technical/specialized vocabulary. If you want signs for a specific topic but don't know what I might have, see Vocabulary lists by topic. Many of the signs that were in this site previously have been recorded in my CD entitled Technical & specialized vocabulary ASL dictionary. If you search for any of the signs that are now in this CD, you will be referred to Table of contents for Technical & specialized vocabulary ASL dictionary. This means you would have to purchase the 2-CD set to see that sign.

(4) I have seen multiple attempts on the same day to find something that was misspelled, so if you can't find something, check your spelling.

(5) If you are looking for an image, an excellent site to use is Alta Vista - Image search.

(6) For an explanation of my glossing system, see Explanation of the glossing system.

(7) If you are looking for an ASL translation of a song, see Songs and ritual texts: Table of contents.

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