Phrases, proximity, truncation and wildcards

1. Advanced Search Strategy
Athens State University Library

2. Search Strategies
• Along with Keywords and Boolean, search
strategies help you find resources when you
are searching online.
• 3 main strategies
– Phrase searching
– Proximity operators
– Truncation

3. Keyword Phrases
• Single concept, multiple words
• Some electronic resources require keyword
phrases be enclosed with punctuation
– “Quotation marks”
– (Parentheses)

4. Examples of Keyword Phrases
• Basic Phrase – “elementary education”
• Proper name – (William Faulkner)
• Hyphenated words – “mother-in-law”
• Slogans/advertisements – (just do it)
• Famous quotes – “to be or not to be”
• Titles – (Where the Wild Thing Are)

5. “Phrase Searching”
• Phrase searching is when the searcher tells
the search engine or database to treat
everything inside the “quotation marks” as a
single unit or phrase.
• If you fail to enclose the words in “ ” the
search engine may place the AND operator in
between each word in the group.

6. Proximity Operators
• Proximity Operators instruct the search engine
or database to search for the term or terms
within some defined location to each other.
That defined location is usually based on some
amount of words in the document.
– Consult the HELP button of the search engine or
database to find out what is recommended by the
various search engines.

7. Common Proximity Operators
• Near (n#)
– Television n2 violence
• Within (w#)
– Franklin w2 Roosevelt
• Before (word before word)
– Elementary before education
• After (word after word)
– Education after elementary

8. Truncation
• Truncation (*) allows you to search for all the variations of a
word at one time, we use a truncation symbol to replace
“any and all letters found” after the symbol appears. This
will increase the number of results in the search list.
• Example: Metamorph*
– Metamorphosis
– Metamorphic
– Metamorphism
– Metamorphose

9. Wildcards
• Wildcards (?) allow you to search for all the
variations of a word at one time, we use a
truncation symbol to replace “specific characters”
in the term. This will increase the number of
results in the search list.
• Example: Wom?n
– Woman
– Women

10. Tips and Tricks for better Searching
• Don’t type in your question:
– Use Boolean Operators with
keywords
– Use keyword phrases with “”
or ()
• Wildcard (? or #)
– ne?t finds neat, nest, next
– colo#r finds color or colour
• Truncation (*)
– comput* finds computer or
computing
• Proximity
– N= near regardless of order
• tax N5 reform finds tax reform
as well as reform of income
tax
– W= in the order they were
entered
• tax W8 reform finds tax reform
but not reform of income tax