Truncation and Wildcards
Truncation or stemming is a search method that enables you to search for words with common roots or stems and variant spellings, as well as plurals and possessive forms of words. Using truncation is a good way to broaden your search. Most databases use the asterisk (*) symbol to truncate, though some use other symbols such as the question mark (?). Here are some examples:
| Symbol | Keyword | Matches |
| * | teen* | teen, teens, teenage, teenager, teenagers, teenaged, etc. |
| ? | panther? | panther, panthers, panther’s, etc |
Wildcards substitutes a symbol for one letter of a word. The question mark is the most frequently used symbol for wildcards, though some databases use the number (#) symbol. Here is an example:
| Symbol | Keyword | Matches |
| ? | wom?n | women, woman |
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Activity: Truncation
