Advanced Search Techniques Truncation & Wildcards

Truncation uses an asterisk ( * ) or other symbols such as  !, ?, or # to search for multiple forms of the same root word. (Look for the database help page if you are unsure what symbols it uses.) For example:

• Searching motiv* will find results that include motivate, motivating, motivated, motivation

Be careful with truncation because it doesn't work with every root word. For example, a search for col* could return results for colon, colony, collate, cold, etc.

The example search is intended to find sources that discuss marketing strategies. strateg* is used to search for sources that include strategy, strategize, strategic, and strategies.

A wildcard is a symbol that takes the place of an unknown character or set of characters. Commonly used wildcards are the asterisk ( * ) and the question mark ( ? ). (Look for the database help page if you are unsure what symbols it uses.)

The question mark represents only one unknown character. For example:

• Searching the word wom?n will have results that include women and woman.

The asterisk can represent more than one character. For example:

• If you didn't know whether the spelling was color or colour, searching colo*r will search both spellings.

In the example, a wildcard is being used because of the difference between the American spelling, labor, and the British spelling, labour. By using the wildcard both versions will be searched.