Search Tips

The truncation symbol "$" is used to search for words with suffixes such as -es, -ers, -ed, -ised, -ing. Enter the base of the word followed by the truncation symbol $.

• For example, searching for "employ$" will find records containing words such as "employment" or "employer" or "employee".

The wildcard symbol "?" can be used to replace letters within words.

• For example, searching for "organi?ation" will find either "organisation" or "organization".

See COIL Tutorial 4 "Search Techniques" for more information on Boolean operators, wildcards, and truncation.

You can also print out the Library's guides to Techniques for database searching and Basic Catalogue Use to use as references.