Truncation

An easy way to broaden your search by searching for variant endings of a word. You truncate the root of the word and search for all the variant endings of that root.

trun·cate  
tr.v. trun·cat·ed, trun·cat·ing, trun·cates

1. To shorten by or as if by cutting off.

For example, to search for information on computers and computerization, type "comput*." You will retrieve everything in the database on computers, computing, computerize, computerization, etc. Some databases also have "wildcard" symbols, to search for variant spellings within a word. For example, "lab*r" would find 'labor' and 'labour'.

Note: Different databases use different keys for truncation and wildcards (usually * or $ or ?) so check the help guide for each database you use.

Choose the most efficient place to truncate a term, i.e., do not truncate it such that your search will either retrieve a lot of information you are not interested in or leave out relevant information. For example, searching for "com*" would retrieve information on computers, computing, etc., but it would also retrieve information on such topics as comedy, comets, compasses, and commodes. On the other hand, "computer*" would retrieve computers and computerize, but not computing.

 

Test yourself: What is the minimum truncation allowed to include all of the following words in a search:
literary, literacy, literary, literature, literally, literalism