Wildcards
A wildcard is a symbol that tells the computer to accept any letter in that place. If you are not sure how to spell a term or there are alternate spellings, a wildcard will allow you to retrieve results. The most common symbol for this is a ?, but it can vary between databases. You can check the Help menu to see if wildcards work in any given platform.
Examples:
- gr?y retrieves gray or grey (alternate spellings)
- wom?n retrieves woman or women (irregular plural)
Truncation
Truncation literally means "cutting short." It allows you to put in part of a word and retrieve all the forms of the word that start with the characters you have entered. The most common symbol used for truncation is an asterisk (*), but it may be different across databases. Truncation can allow any number of letters, and it only works at the end of a word.
Examples:
- archit* retrieves architecture or architect
- psycho* retireves psychosis, psychotic, etc.
Be careful not to over use truncation. If you cut a word too short, you will get words that don't actually relate.
Good example:
- consum* retrieves consumer, consumes, consumerism
Poor example:
- cons* retrieves all those words along with constipation, consult, constituent... etc.
