Reading skills practice: How to be a safe and smart searcher – exercises
Can you always find what you want to find on the internet? These eight easy-to-remember tips will help
you to become a safe and smart searcher!

Preparation
Match the vocabulary with the correct definition and write a–h next to the numbers 1–8.
1…….. to narrow

a.

a word that is important for or ‘key’ to the topic you are searching

2…….. keyword

b.

to make a mistake when writing something on a keyboard

3…….. several

c.

not to be trusted or believed

4…….. a search engine

d.

to make more limited

5…….. to mis-type

e.

software for sorting and blocking unwanted online content

6…….. unreliable

f.

a computer program that is used to look for information on the
internet

7…….. a filter

g.

punctuation marks that look like this: “”

8…….. inverted commas

h.

more than two or three but not many

Reading skills practice: How to be a safe and smart searcher – exercises

Reading skills practice: How to be a safe and smart searcher – exercises

1. Check your understanding: true or false
Circle True or False for these sentences.
1.

You should only use one keyword in a single search.

True

False

2.

Inverted commas are a useful way to find something you’ve already seen.

True

False

3.

Words like ‘an’ are unhelpful in a search.

True

False

4.

If your keyword could refer to a lot of different things, you can’t avoid getting
a long list of results.

True

False

5.

Small spelling mistakes aren’t important.

True

False

6.

Filter software is especially important for image searches.

True

False

7.

Some search engines give different results to different people.

True

False

8.

Some websites contain false information.

True

False

2. Check your understanding: grouping
Write the tips in the correct group.
check the spelling of
every word.

use words like ‘a’ or ‘the’
in a search.

use a filter for each
picture search.

use inverted commas in
a search.

believe all the
information you see on
the internet.

always use the same
search engine without
considering the
alternatives.

use a minus symbol to
avoid unwanted
references.

always use a single
keyword.

Do …

Discussion
What type of information do you search for on the internet?

Don’t …