LPT: When using Google to research for school, add “filetype:pdf” or “site:.edu” to your search to instantly find high-quality academic sources.

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Instead of digging through random websites and unreliable sources, you can instantly filter Google search results to find scholarly articles, textbooks, and research papers by using these simple search tricks:

  1. Find academic papers & books:
    • Search: “computer science basics filetype:pdf”
    • This limits results to only PDF files, which are often textbooks, academic papers, or official guides.
  2. Find information from universities (.edu) or government sources (.gov):
    • Search: “history of climate change site:.edu”
    • This limits results to university websites, where you’ll find lecture notes, studies, and research papers.
    • You can also use site:.gov for government reports or site:.org for non-profit research.

Why it works: These filters cut out clickbait articles, blogs, and unreliable sources—giving you only legitimate, high-quality materials in seconds. It’s a game-changer for writing research papers or studying efficiently!

Bonus Tip: If you hit a paywall, copy the article title and search it with filetype:pdf—many papers are uploaded for free elsewhere!

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  1. keepthetips Avatar

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  3. Cutsdeep- Avatar

    Or just use libgen

  4. ThatKuki Avatar

    please keep in mind that .edu is a pretty american concept, not to mention .gov, which the american government keeps for itself exclusively. So you might be unneccesarily limiting yourself to US results

    i don’t know of any major swiss university using .edu for example, you might have some that are technically accredited, but a lot less known or established, so they use .edu to give themselves a more credible appearance

    also literally anybody can register a .org, 4chan is on .org ffs