| Search Tip | Description | Example |
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Truncation Truncation is a search technique used in databases where a symbol (often an asterisk |
An asterisk (*) can be used within words to find multiple characters An asterisk (*) can be used between words to match any single word |
Example:
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Wildcard: Question mark and Hashtag Use for finding alternative spellings of a word Cannot be used as the first character in a search term Plural or possessive forms and synonyms for the word are not automatically searched |
A question mark (?) replaces a single character within a word Question marks at the end of words or character strings are not treated as wildcards; they are automatically removed The hashtag (#) replaces a single character within a word |
organi?ation → organization, organisation
colo#r → color, colour |
| Plurals |
The singular form of a word finds plural and possessive forms of most words If the plural is spelled differently use the "Applied related words" expander |
carbon → carbon, carbons baby → baby, baby's, babies |
| Hyphenated words |
The hyphenated form finds both hyphenated and non-hyphenated forms Non-hyphenated forms are treated as separate words Hyphenated words that are combined should be searched using the OR operator |
video-games → video-game, video game, video-games, video games video game → video game OR "video game" OR "video games" full-time OR fulltime |
| Phrases |
Double quotation marks for exact phrase searching - Truncation is allowed - Plural and possessive forms will not be searched with truncation |
"cognitive behavior therapy" → cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy "communication technolog*" → communication technology, communication technologies |
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Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT Use Boolean operators to combine your search Are not case sensitive ORDER OF PRECEDENCE: AND takes precedence over OR Use parentheses to override operator precedence |
AND Use AND to combine multiple concepts OR Use OR when you have similar words to describe a concept or topic NOT Use NOT to exclude results containing terms The expression inside the parenthesis is executed first |
At least one term must appear → liver OR cirrhosis Both terms must appear → cognitive architecture AND robots Exclude one term → lung NOT cancer (heart OR lung) AND bypass |
| Nesting – (…) | Parentheses combine search terms logically and control the order |
→ (cancer or neoplasm) AND (therapy or treatment) Parentheses tell the database to first find results that include either "cancer" or "neoplasm" and either "therapy" or "treatment", then combine the two groups using AND. |
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Proximity Operators - NEAR operator (N), WITHIN operator (W) The Proximity operator finds words within a certain distance from each other Truncation is possible
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NEAR operator: Nn - the n element says how many words between the two keywords, but not the order the words are in Entering terms without Boolean or proximity operator by default will be treated as NEAR 5 (N5) WITHIN operator: Wn - terms must appear within a certain distance and specific order between words |
→ tax N3 reform > tax reform, reform of income tax →oil W3 (disaster OR clean-up OR contaminat*) →(sme OR smes OR smb OR smbs) OR ((small* OR medium*) W5 (business* OR compan* OR enterpris* OR firm* OR corporation*) |
Adapted from: University of Oulu Library, Finland: Dublin City University; EBSCO Connect