TRUNCATION AND WILDCARDS

Truncation and wildcard symbols allow you to perform more efficient and thorough keyword searching. They allow you to retrieve variations of your search term, eliminating the need for multiple searches. Truncation expands a search term to include all forms of a root word, eg: theat? for theater, theatre, theatrical. A wildcard symbol usually replaces a letter or letters within a word, eg: wom*n retrieves woman and women.

The truncation and wildcard symbols vary from database to database. How the symbols are used will also vary. Click on the number under "examples" for the explanatory note and examples for a particular database.

 

Indexes and Databases Names	Truncation Symbol	Wildcard Symbol	Examples
AGRICOLA	* , (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Alternative Press Index	?-single, *-multi-character	?-single, *-multi-character	12
America: History and Life	*	?	5
AMICO (Art Museum Image Consortium)	?	?	30
Anthropological Index Online	automatic		13
Applied Science & Technology Abstracts	*	?	1
ArchivesUSA	*		11
Art Abstracts	*	?	1
Art Index Retrospective	*	?	1
ArticleFirst	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Arts & Humanities Citation Index	*	?	8
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals	?		4
BAS (Bibliography of Asian Studies)	automatic		15
Bibliography of the History of Art	?		4
Biography Index	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Book Review Digest	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Books In Print	?		27
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online)	automatic		16
Congressional Universe	!	*	3
Consumers Index	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Contemporary Authors	*	?	9
Contemporary Literary Criticism	*	?	9
Contemporary Women's Issues	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
ContentsFirst	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
CSA - Life Sciences Collection	$		7
Dictionary of Literary Biography	*	?	9
Dissertation Abstracts	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Dow Jones Interactive	$		17
EconLit	$		7
Electronic Collections Online	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Encyclopedia Britannica	*		18
English Short Title Catalog	?		4
Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center)	*	?-single, *-multi-character	10
General Sciences Abstracts	*	?	1
GeoRef	*	?	6
Grove Dictionary of Art	*	?	28
HAPI (Hispanic American Periodicals Index)	automatic		19
Health and Psychosocial Instruments (Hapi)	$		7
Historical Abstracts	*	?	5
HLAS (Handbook of Latin American Studies)	automatic		20
Humanities Abstracts	*	?	1
INSPEC (Index to Physics and Computer Science)	*	?	6
International Film Archives	none
International Index to Music Periodicals	*		11
ITER (Bibliography of Medieval and Renaissance Studies)	none
JSTOR (Journal Storage)	+ for plurals only		21
LEXIS-NEXIS	!	*	3
Library Literature	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
MathSciNet	*	*	22
Medline	*		23
MLA (Modern Language Association) Bibliography	$		7
NetFirst	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
PAISInternational	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
PapersFirst	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Past Masters	none
PCI: Periodicals Contents Index Full Text	*		11
Philosopher's Index	*	?	6
ProcedingsFirst	*	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Project Muse	*		24
PsycINFO	$		7
Readers' Guide Abstracts	*	?	1
Religion Database	$		7
RILM Abstracts of Musical Literature	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Science Citation Index	*	?	8
Social Sciences Abstracts	*	?	1
Social Sciences Citation Index	*	?	8
Sociological Abstracts	*	?	10
Statistical Abstract of the U.S.	none
Statistical Universe	!	*	3
U.S. Government Publications Catalog	*		25
Ulrich's International Periodical Directory	$ or *-multi-characters, ?-single character, ??-two characters, etc.		26
Union Lists of Periodicals	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2
Wilson Web	*	?	1
Women Writers Online	*	?	29
WorldCat	*, (+ for plurals)	#-single, ?-multi-character	2

Last updated 11/16/00