Module 2 header graphic

picture of a joker playing card

Truncation

Truncation and wildcard symbols stand for one or more letters within or at the end of a search term.
 

Truncation
Added to the stem of a word, a truncation symbol will find that stem plus anything that comes after it. The symbol used to truncate a word depends upon the database or Web search engine you are using. 
market?
 will return records on market, marketing, markets. 		pig*
 will return records on pig, pigment, pigmentation, pigments, pig		 advertis*
 will return records on advertise, advertised, advertising, advertisement, advertisements.
* is used as the truncation symbol in InfoTrac OneFile and Wilson Select Plus.
     

Wildcards
Wildcard symbols inserted within a word will retrieve word variants.
rec?ve
will return records on receive--handy if you're not sure how to spell it!		 wom?n
will return records on woman or women.		 colo#r
 will return records on color or colour. In EBSCOhost, # is used for alternate spellings
Back