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American Civilization to 1865

A guide to doing United States historical research for the period prior to the Civil War using print and on-line resources available in the Swirbul Library of Adelphi University.

how to improve your search terms

Truncation: Broadening Your Search

Truncation allows you to search for a root form of a word and pick up any ending.  To use truncation, simply add the asterisk * sign to the end of any root form of a word. Truncation broadens your search.

For example,

  • wom*  > woman, women, woman's, women's
  • famil* > family, families, familial
  • revolution* > revolutions. revolutionary
  • biograph* > biography, biographical