Truncation and Wildcards
Truncation and wildcards broaden your search capabilities by allowing you to retrieve multiple spellings of a root word or word stem, such as singular and plural forms.
A wildcard is a special character, such as an asterisk (*), question mark (?), or pound sign (#), that replaces one or more letters in a word. Truncation is using a wildcard at the end of a root word to search multiple variations of that root word. Check a database's help section to identify what symbol is used for a wildcard.
In this search example: protect* OR conserv* OR regulat* would retrieve multiple spellings of these synonyms.
Some databases may allow you to use truncation at the beginning of words or within words (this is called internal truncation). Consult the help files in the database to determine the availability of this feature.