Truncation and Wildcards

Truncation symbols replace the ending letter or letters of a word. This allows you to retrieve all variations of a root word.

Example: increas* will retrieve records with the following terms:

• increase
  increasing
  increases
  increased

Truncation will find all forms of a word. This means that it will also retrieve words that are irrelevant if they have the same root as the relevant words. Employ* will also retrieve

• employees
  employment
  employing
  
  Employing might pick up the phrase "employing military force" which is not what you need.

Therefore truncation must be used judiciously.

Different search software systems use different symbols for truncation. Some of the most common are *, !, and ?. Always check the help screens to find out which truncation symbol is supported.

Truncation is a powerful search and retrieval strategy.

Wildcards replace a letter or letters within a word. The wildcard symbol serves as a substitute for the varying or unknown letter. This allows you to retrieve records containing variant spellings and unusual plurals of words.

Example

Different search software systems use different symbols for wildcards. Some use more than one symbol. Common wildcard symbols are *, !, and ?. Always check the help screens to find out which wildcard symbols are supported.