This document discusses techniques for online searching using wildcards and truncation. It explains that wildcards and truncation can be used to find variations in spelling and word forms to increase search results. Specifically, it describes how wildcards use symbols like * to substitute for letters, while truncation uses symbols like * only at the end of a word to find related terms. Finally, it provides examples of searches using wildcards and truncation and tips for their effective use.

1. ONLINE SEARCH TECHNIQUES
Wildcards & Truncation

2. LIBRARY BLONDE

3. WILDCARDS & TRUNCATION
• Use truncation (or stemming) and wildcards to look for variations in
spelling and word form and to increase your search results.
• The English language has many variations of the same word. For example:
dog and dogs
give and giving
• Some words also are combinations of several words. For example:
doghouse
• You may need to search for some of these combinations at the same time,
normally the singular and plural form of the same noun.

4. WILDCARDS & TRUNCATION
• Involves substituting symbols for certain letters of a word so that the
search engine will retrieve items with any letter in that spot in the word.
• The symbol used is usually *.

5. WILDCARDS
• For a wildcard search, put the symbol in the middle of the word. For
example:
colo*r
Search results: color
colour
• A wildcard search makes it easier to search for related word groups. For
example:
wom*n
Search results: woman
women
womyn

6. TRUNCATION
• For a truncation search, put the symbol only at the end of the word. For
example:
librar*
Search results: library, libraries, librarian, etc.
• Truncation can be useful to search for a group of words instead of typing
all the words in separately with the Boolean operator OR. For example:
Invest*
Search results: invest, investor, investors, investing, investment, investments,
etc.

7. TRUNCATION TRICKS
• BUT REMEMBER . . .
invest*
will also retrieve: investigate, investigated, investigator, investigation,
investigating, etc.
• The trick is to combine terms with the Boolean operator AND to try and
narrow your search results to the kind of documents you’re looking for.
For example:
“invest*” AND "stock* or bond* or financ* or money”

8. TRUNCATION & WILDCARD TIPS
• Truncation or wildcards work best when the stem is longer and if the stem
is not a root of many other common words.
• A lot of search engines "stem" keywords automatically. For example, they
will automatically search for dog if you enter the keyword "dogs" and vice
versa.

9. AN EXTRA GOOGLE TIP
• Google has a special "tilde” operator that lets you search for synonyms.
• If you place the tilde sign ("~") immediately in front of a keyword, Google
will replace that keyword with a list of words with a similar meaning,
expanding your search. For example:
~food facts
Search results will also include “nutrition facts.”

10. IF YOU DO A SEARCH FOR . . .
Your results will include:
Dog
Dogs
dog* Dogged
Doggy
Dogma

11. IF YOU DO A SEARCH FOR . . .
Your results will include:
Injuries
Injury
injur* Injured

12. IF YOU DO A SEARCH FOR . . .
Your results will include:
Cat
Cot
c*t Cut

13. IF YOU DO A SEARCH FOR . . .
Your results will include:
Back
Bilk
b**k Bark
Bank
Book

14. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chamberlain, E. (2006, September 7). Bare bones lesson 7: Basic search tips.
The University of South Carolina Beaufort Library. Retrieved March 20, 2013, from
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson7.shtml
P&S Koch. (2012). Truncation or wildcards in internet searching. Truncation or
Wild Cards in Internet Searching. Retrieved March 20, 2013, from
http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/9.html
Schwartz, K. L. (2008). Skills for online searching. Ipl2: Research & Writing Info
Search. Retrieved March 12, 2013, from
http://www.ipl.org/div/aplus/skills.htm