| Placing parentheses or quotation marks around words forces the database to search for you terms as a phrase, rather than as two separate words anywhere in the text. |
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Truncation is where you get the database to do the work of finding alternate endings of words for you instead of you typing in all of the possible variations that might come up. Most databases allow you to put a symbol, usually (but not always - remember to check the Help guide for the database) an asterisk, after the main part of your search term to find all these variation. This will save you having to type multiple words into the search box in the database that you're using For example; nurs* will find nurse, nurses, nursing.
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| Substitute a wildcard symbol for letter(s) in a word, this will help find spelling variations. Remember symbols used may vary between the different databases, always check the individual database Help section. |
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Below is a table of the search operators, truncation and wildcard symbols used by the top databases. Always check the 'Help' section of any database to ensure you are using the appropriate search functions. |