Truncation, Wildcard & Quotation Marks
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Truncation: Also called Stemming. By truncating, a database will return results that include all variations of a word based on its root. Truncation broadens your search. |
Structure |
Actual Search |
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Child* |
Child Childs Children Childrens Childhood |
Note: Some databases utilize different truncation symbols. Always check a database’s HELP section for more information.
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Wildcards: Similar to truncation, but replace only one letter and can be used within a word to account for variations in spelling. This technique broadens your search. |
Structure |
Actual Search |
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Wom!n |
Woman Women |
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Colo?r |
Color Colour |
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Note: Some databases utilize different wildcard symbols. Always check a database’s HELP section for more information.
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Quotation Marks: Create a precise phrase using quotation marks. This technique narrows your search. Use this for common phrases. |
Less Precise |
More Precise |
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Global AND Warming |
“Global Warming” |
Note: Most databases recognize quotation marks, but some do not. Pay attention to bolded terms in a result list to determine whether the database found the phrase or searched by individual keyword.