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How To Search : Tools of Power Searching

These are the building blocks to constructing precision searches in Academic Indexes

Truncation and Wildcards from EBSCO & Proquest

What are they?

Truncation and wildcards provide a way to search for all forms of a word. 

A truncation symbol before a prefix or root word says, "let the word begin this way, I don't care how it ends."  Do be wary of unintended words which may be pulled that way.  It is often used to include singular and plural forms of the word.  In English language searching the wildcard can pull both British and English spellings of a word

Example: Labo?r   will return both: Labor or Labour

Remember:  
The truncation/wildcard symbol is always dependent on the Search Platform.  Always check the Help screen inside a database.

 

Examples of Truncation/Wildcards in the EBSCO Search Platform:

 

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