TRUNCATION
TRICKS
Search engines have a feature that allow them
to overcome the problems caused by spelling called truncation
(pronounced trun-kay-shin). Truncation allows you to type in only a few letters of a word
and a special symbol * or ? in the search box. This instructs the search engine to look for all the
word matches that begin with the first few letters you typed in. If you're not sure how to
spell crocodiles correctly, for
example, you could enter it in as follows:
| Be careful, though! The search
engine will come up with subjects that have nothing to do with the subject you're
researching, simply because they too contain the letters "croc"! The list would
include subjects such as "crochet", "crock",
"crococite" and "crocus", to mention just a few! |
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Go to Yahooligans or Awesome Library and type in a truncated
keyword. Could you find web sites on the topic you were actually looking for? How many
other "subjects" (that are not related to your topic) did the search engine
find? |
| This unit is divided into steps. Please
ensure that you understand each step before moving to the next one! CLICK
HERE for the next step....
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