Getting Lists of Names When You Don't Even Have One

If you don't know the names of any of the things you're researching—you know you want information on candy bars, for example, but know nothing about candy bars—you can just try “types of Y”:

"types of candy bars"

Now, candy bars are open-ended. If you sat ten people down and asked them each to name twenty candy bars, they'd all have different lists. But if you're researching something more specific, you can build even more specific queries.

For example, collies. Run the query

"there are * types of collies"

and see what you get. Or:

"there are * types of pine trees"

Or:

"there are * types of hawks"

Basically, anything that can be scientifically classified can be searched for with this query. If you're having trouble finding search results using this query, substitute the word “varieties” or “kinds” for the word “types.”

Anything that you can divide into a group of proper names, be it animals, candy bars, flora, or even computer games, is fair game for this search principle.