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Truncation
& Wildcard
Use the truncation and wildcard symbols to create searches where there are unknown characters, multiple spellings or various word endings. Neither the wildcard nor the truncation symbol can be used as the first character in a search term. Consult the Help file for each database to use the correct Truncation and Wildcard symbols. The Truncation symbol, added to the stem of a word, will find that stem plus anything that comes after it. The symbol used to truncate a word depends upon the index, database, or Web search engine you are using. Some use a question mark ? - some use an asterisk * . EBSCO databases use an asterisk * while the Ely Library Catalog uses a question mark ? The Wildcard can also be represented by a question mark ? or asterisk * depending upon the database. To use the wildcard in EBSCOhost databases, enter your search terms and replace each unknown character with a ?. |
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| psych? | will
return records on psycho or psyche in EBSCO.
? is used as the truncation symbol, for example, in the Library Catalog and will return all terms beginning with psych |
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| environ* | will
return records on environment, environments, environmental.
* is used as the truncation symbol in EbscoHost databases such as Academic Search Premier and Business Source Premier. |
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| ne?t | will return all citations containing neat, nest or next in EBSCOhost. It does not find net because the wildcard ? replaces only a single character. | ||
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