Asterisk

Definition

An asterisk is a typographical symbol (*) that is often used to indicate a wildcard character in search queries, meaning it can represent any string of characters or no characters at all. In advanced search techniques, it enhances the effectiveness of searches by broadening the scope of results, allowing users to retrieve more relevant information when querying databases or search engines.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. In many search engines and databases, placing an asterisk at the end of a word can help find variations of that word, such as plurals or different suffixes.
2. An asterisk can also be used between words in a phrase to find documents that contain other words in between, expanding search results.
3. Using an asterisk effectively requires understanding the structure of the database or search engine being used, as implementations may vary.
4. The symbol can help uncover broader topics by searching for stem words; for example, 'educat*' could yield results for 'education', 'educator', and 'educational'.
5. While useful, overusing the asterisk may lead to irrelevant results if the wildcard returns too many variations, making it harder to find specific information.

Review Questions

• How does the use of an asterisk as a wildcard enhance the effectiveness of search queries?
  • The asterisk functions as a wildcard that allows users to broaden their search results by substituting for any number of characters in a word. This means that when placed at the end of a root word, it can capture various forms and variations of that word, leading to more comprehensive results. For instance, searching for 'journal*' would return documents with 'journal', 'journals', 'journalism', etc., making it easier to gather related content.
• Discuss the relationship between asterisks and Boolean operators in refining search queries.
  • Asterisks serve as flexible tools alongside Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT to create more precise searches. While Boolean operators help define relationships between keywords and filter results, asterisks allow for broader matching of terms within those parameters. For example, combining 'educat* AND science' will yield documents that mention various forms related to education within the context of science, enhancing the specificity of search outcomes while still capturing relevant variations.
• Evaluate the potential drawbacks of using asterisks in search queries and how they might impact research outcomes.
  • While using asterisks can significantly enhance search effectiveness by expanding result sets, there are potential drawbacks that researchers should be aware of. Over-reliance on wildcards might lead to an overwhelming number of results that include unrelated terms or variations not pertinent to the research topic. This influx can complicate the filtering process and make it challenging to locate specific information quickly. Thus, while they are valuable tools for broadening searches, they must be used judiciously to maintain focus on relevant data.

Related terms

Wildcard: A character used in search queries that stands in for unknown or variable characters, allowing for flexible search results.

Boolean Operators: Logical operators (AND, OR, NOT) used in search queries to combine or exclude keywords, refining search results.

Search Query: A formal request for information that typically consists of keywords and operators to retrieve specific data from databases or search engines.