Truncation allows you to broaden your search by including alternative word endings and spellings. Most often asterisk (*) is the truncation symbol for databases and placed at the end of the root word.
For example, nurs* would find nurse, nurses, and nursing.
Wildcard symbols can broaden a database search by including alternative spellings within a word.
- Asterisk wildcard (*) - Is used between words where variations may be possible. Example: "evidence* practice" can return results such as, "evidence-based practice".
- Question mark wildcard (?) - Is used to replace an unknown character. Example: wom?n will show results for women or woman.
- Hashtag wildcard (#) - Wildcards allow you to broaden your search by including alternative spellings within a word. So is colo#r would bring results for color and colour.
Check in specific databases to see the suggested wildcard and truncation methods:
