Finding people's contact information
- Social media is a good starting place, but try Google if the person doesn't use social media.
- Search the person's name in quotation marks: "marie curie"
- Add profession- or location-related keywords to narrow down common names: "marie curie" paris
- Try searching different variations of the person's name (like nicknames).
- Well-known people may have a foundation or organization associated with them. For example, search:
"name" (foundation OR publicist OR agent OR agency OR contact)
- If you're still stuck, try a database like WhitePages.com or Spokeo.com. Note: We do not have library subscriptions to these.
More Google Search Tips
Search within one website
- Type site:[URL] keywords to search within one website.
- Example: site:cjr.org FOIA searches just content about the Freedom of Information Act on the Columbia Journalism Review website.
Search within one type of website
- Type site:[.domain] keywords to search pages within one type of website.
- Example: site:.gov FOIA searches just content about the Freedom of Information Act from U.S. government websites.
Find exact words/phrases
- Add quotation marks around words and phrases to search for those words exactly, so Google doesn't look for related terms, too. This is especially helpful for the names of people or locations.
- Example: "jim henson"
Remove certain results from your search
- Add a hyphen/minus sign (-) before keywords you want to eliminate from your results.
- Example: "ocean city" -"new jersey" -"NJ" brings back content about Ocean City, Maryland, but nothing about Ocean City, New Jersey.
Even more Advanced Search tips
On the Google Search homepage, go to Settings > Advanced to access even more settings, including language, file type, and date last updated. Read more search tips.
