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Tips for SearchingBoolean AND, OR and NOT | Truncation and Wildcards | Phrase Searching Putting Concepts Together - Boolean AND, OR and NOTUse AND and OR to combine keywords or phrases.
Truncation and WildcardsA symbol at the end of a word stem provides for all variants on the word stem. The most commonly used symbol is the asterisk (*), but this varies among databases. For example, a search for librar* will retrieve: library, libraries, librarian, etc. Be careful not to truncate too far, or you will retrieve unrelated words! Internal Truncation A symbol within a word provides for all possible variants inside a word or word stem. The most commonly used symbol for internal truncation is #. For example, a search for wom#n will retrieve: woman, women Look at online help for each database to determine the truncation symbols. Phrase SearchingSome databases require a phrase to be in quotes. Ex:"higher education" Content based on Duke University Guide to Library Research: Electronic Searching
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