{"id":252,"date":"2017-04-26T11:41:07","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T11:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ueflibraryscifor.wordpress.com\/?page_id=252"},"modified":"2025-02-17T09:04:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T07:04:04","slug":"truncating-words","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/search-terms-for-queries\/truncating-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Truncating words"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>TRUNCATION<\/strong> is a technique that broadens your search to include variants of words, various word endings and spellings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>comput<strong>er<\/strong>, comput<strong>ers<\/strong>, comput<strong>erised<\/strong>, comput<strong>erized<\/strong>, comput<strong>ation<\/strong>, comput<strong>ational<\/strong><\/em> etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To use truncation, enter <strong>the root of a word<\/strong> and put the <strong>truncation symbol at the end.<\/strong><br>The truncation symbol is <strong>*<\/strong> (asterisk).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>comput*<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For example: <em>child*<\/em> gives you <em>child, children, childhood<\/em> etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"449\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2023\/09\/green-2561901_640.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2023\/09\/green-2561901_640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2023\/09\/green-2561901_640-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The general rule is that by using truncation, <strong>more search results are obtained<\/strong>. Using a single truncated search term, various different forms of inflection and other variants are searched at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pay attention to the spot where you place the truncation mark. If you truncate too early, there will be false hits due to non-relevant terms fulfilling the condition. If you truncate too late, something remains undiscovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized alignnone wp-image-1186\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"634\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2021\/10\/SF_truncation.png\" alt=\"Text and pictures of piles of books, symbolizing the number of results. Analysis, 12 176 results, a medium size pile. Analysis*, 11 267 results, a smaller pile. Analys*, 13 320 results, a bigger pile. Analyz*, 486 results, a very small pile. Analy*, 16 162 results, a very big pile. Ana*, 19 097 results, a huge pile. The term \u2018analy*\u2019 is highlighted.\" class=\"wp-image-1186\" style=\"width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2021\/10\/SF_truncation.png 1020w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2021\/10\/SF_truncation-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2021\/10\/SF_truncation-768x477.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>See an example how the spot where you place the truncation mark affects the result. The largest number is received when the truncation covers forms: analysis, analyses, analyse, analyze, analysing, analyzing, analysed, analyzed, analyser, analytical. Too wide truncation results not just analysis related hits, but also for instance analog, anarchism, anatomy etc.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Truncation is usually possible at the beginning or at the middle of a term, too. Examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>*plastic = plastic, microplastic, nanoplastic<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>geo*chemistry = geochemistry, geobiochemistry<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Wildcards replace letters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A bit similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for <strong>one or one\/zero letter<\/strong> of a word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A wildcard <strong>replacing one character is usually ? <\/strong>(Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest) <br>For example: <em>organi?ation<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A wildcard <strong>replacing zero or one character<\/strong> is for instance <strong>$<\/strong> (Web of Science) &#8211; not every database offer this possibility<br>For example: <em>colo<\/em>$r<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Replacing a character is useful for instance if you are not sure about the spelling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-white-background-color has-background\">\n<li><em>eri?son<\/em> retrieves <em>ericson<\/em> and <em>erikson<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>hof$man<\/em> retrieves <em>hofman<\/em> and <em>hoffman<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Wildcard is also useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>advis?r<\/em> retrieves<em> adviser<\/em> and <em>advisor<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice, that <em>colo?r<\/em> does not find color, since there must be one character replacing &#8216;?&#8217;. A better solution could be a truncation mark: <em>colo*r<\/em>. <br>On the other hand, using truncation within a word might be tricky, if there are other possible matches for the truncated term, for instance gauge\/gage: if you use <em>ga*ge<\/em>, you will get also garbage and garage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch a video &#8216;Search techniques: Truncation &amp; Wildcards&#8217; (1:09) by <em><strong>QUT Library<\/strong><\/em>. The link in the picture will take you to YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-ZL9RTBpllg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"442\" height=\"238\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2022\/08\/SF_video_truncation.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2022\/08\/SF_video_truncation.png 442w, https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/55\/2022\/08\/SF_video_truncation-300x162.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 442px) 100vw, 442px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stemming and lemmatisation usually helps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many databases <strong>can automatically recall some inflected forms of words<\/strong>, typically singulars\/plurals and sometimes conjugations too. Also American-British spelling variations are taken care of by the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>color<\/em> might retrieve also <em>color, colors, colour, colours, <\/em>and in some cases even <em>coloring, colouring<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice 1.<strong> If you use phrases in your queries, this automatism won&#8217;t work!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-white-background-color has-background\">\n<li><em>&#8220;level of organization&#8221;<\/em> won&#8217;t find <em>&#8220;level of organisation&#8221;<\/em> or <em>&#8220;levels of organization&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>instead you can use: <strong><em>&#8221; level*&nbsp; of&nbsp; organi*ation &#8220;<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Notice 2. If you are interested for instance in <em>cycling<\/em> (riding a bike) and want to <strong>avoid other, wrong forms<\/strong> like <em>cycle<\/em>, you can either <strong>use truncation: <em>cycling*<\/em> or a phrase: <em>&#8220;cycling&#8221;.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\" style=\"background-color:#8dd2fc73\">\n<p><strong>To Do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Consider your search terms and think about if they need truncation. Place the truncation mark to a right spot.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Notice especially phrases and a need of truncation there.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Notice also, if the truncation might lead to possible &#8220;wrong&#8221; results. This is usually not a problem, if you use several search terms together.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">Next page: <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/operators-connecting-terms\/\">Operators connecting words<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TRUNCATION is a technique that broadens your search to include variants of words, various word endings and spellings. To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end.The truncation symbol is * (asterisk). The database will return results that include any ending of that root word. The general [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"parent":4,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-252","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Truncating words - Information skills and sources in science and forestry \/ \/ UEF Library<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uef.fi\/ueflibraryscienceforestry\/search-terms-for-queries\/truncating-words\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truncating words - Information skills and sources in science and forestry \/ \/ UEF Library\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TRUNCATION is a technique that broadens your search to include variants of words, various word endings and spellings. 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