Tuesday Tips: Put a * On It

Sometimes spelling can be a real hassle when it comes to doing research. Between the differences of British and American English and the various endings we give words, it's a pain to try to cover everything.

That's why I love the Wildcard character of Boolean search. Simply put an asterisk (*) on your keyword and save yourself some time.

The asterisk allows you to search for a root word and all its different endings. For instance, "educat*" will search for educate, educates, educated, education, educating, educational, and educator.

You can also use a wildcard within the word; for example, you can use "wom*n" to search for woman or women.

Note, however, that some unrelated words have the same root. You may try "polic*" to search for policy or policies, but it will also search for police.
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Most places use an asterisk (*) as the wildcard but some use a question mark (?). You can usually find out which character to use on the search tool's Help page.

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