1. The abbreviation search interfaces work for all sorts of abbreviations and acronyms.
   
   
2. Enter your abbreviation (e.g. unesco, wipo, ttfn, wysiwyg) in the search box, select a search technique  and click on Find (Google is automatically opened and your abbreviation searched for).
   
   
3. Look through the URLs of your results: IGNORE those pages that do NOT contain a designation of a list of abbreviations or acronyms either in the title or the url.
   
   
4. To increase your results
   
   A) Check your spelling! (Google is not case-sensitvie, so UNESCO=unesco=Unesco)
   B) If you are still getting no results, try adding dots after each initial (e.g. s.w.i.f.t., m.t.b.f.). In this case you will need to use quotation marks ("s.w.i.f.t.")
   
   
5. To limit/finetune your results:
   
   Add another keyword (word or abbreviation) relating to the field in question (which you would expect to find on the same page), without using quotation marks:
      ... gprs wap
      ... gprs mobile
      ... PDA palm
   
   
6. If the search criteria in one language fail, use search criteria in another language, for example English.
   
   
7. Some lists of abbreviations include definitions; Some contain foreign language equivalents: play around with the languages listed above: e.g. search for wto (WTO=World Trade Organization) using French search criteria to find the French language equivalent (OMC=Organisation mondiale du commerce).
   
   
8. Once you have opened a page, locate your term with CTRL+F (or Edit/Find).

Back to top of page