We generally use Google as a search engine. We look for things such as, "how to get a six-pack like David Beckham." We may scan the list of results and try, try, try to find the key to landing Posh Spice.
Google handles that moment in our lives incredibly well, but that's not all it offers.
Because Google is a research tool, a place to find information about anything and everything that will help us pass our papers, it has naturally got a few tricks up its sleeve to help us in our quests.\nActually, one of the best research strategies is not to use the front page of Google at all. If you go to news.google.com, you can search enormous news databases from all around the world. You can choose news based on where it came from and when it happened, and from there you can find exactly the story you need.
If news isn't your cup of tea, try Google Scholar, at scholar.google.com. This Web site includes law briefs, journal articles, and the like - all slightly more citable than Wikipedia.
Google Books is another service that doesn't get enough love in the world of college students. It's an enormous, growing database of books, and every word is searchable. If you are looking for sources for a paper, it's an awesome place to start. Google Books doesn't have every book out there, but it has an awful lot. It's also great for finding bibliography information later, after you've returned your book to the library.
For all your daily Google searches, though, there are some ways to find what you're looking for a little faster. My personal favorite is the minus key: If you type "iPod