Basic Searching in WorldCat (cont.)
- Search operators
- AND
- OR
- NOT
- w
- The first word followed immediately by the second
- This is the same as entering the search in quotation marks
- Example: prison w reform or "prison reform"
- w[number 1-25]
- Both words, in the order typed, with the specified number of possible words between them
- Example: prison w2 reform retrieves "prison reform", "prison inmate reform", and "prison and penitentiary reform"
- n
- The first term is next to the second, in either order
- Example: prison* n reform retrieves "prison reform" or "reforms prisons"
- n[number 1-25]
- Both words, in either order, with the specified number of possible words) between them
- Truncation is
- use at the end of at least three-character stems
- + for simple plurals (Example: horse+ for "horse" or "horses"; box+ for "box" or "boxes")
- * for any number of characters following (Example: hous* for "house", "housing", or "housewife")
- Wildcards are
- used within search terms
- # represents a single character (Example: labo#r for "labor" or "labour")
- ? represents zero or any number of additional characters
- ?[number] specifies the maximum number of possible characters
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