Truncation is the omission of part of a word after the root. You replace the omitted part with a truncation character (*). The character that replaces the part of a word is also called a wildcard or wildcard. The truncated search term must contain at least 3 characters. Left, middle and right truncation is possible.
This is very useful if the spelling of a word(s) may differ or if you search for both the singular and plural of a term. For example (in Dutch):
ele*troni*a = elektronika
electronica
elektronica
electronika
!Attention! Truncation characters may differ between databases:
? or * or ! or + or $
TecDic is een online Nederlands-Engels technisch woordenboek
Boolean searching means you use AND, OR or NOT when searching.
► With AND, you search for sources that contain both search terms.
For example: energy AND systems
► OR searches for sources containing at least one of the search terms (synonyms).
For example: cars OR vehicles OR automobiles
► With NOT you indicate which word the search engine should not search for.
For example: vehicles NOT bicycle
How to search with 2 or more terms?
Use the quotation marks "..." if you want to search for a term consisting of multiple words, such as: "smart grid" or "social media".
How to orientate?
Orientate yourself on your topic, your search terms and your sources.
How to search and find?
Search for information using the right searching techniques.
How to assess and select?
On the quality and reliability of information.
How to reference?
Citation and referencing, APA-guidelines and reference software, such as EndNote.
Keep in mind copyrights and avoid plagiarism. More information on these guideline(s) can be found here.