JSTOR has many practical search conventions and is very user friendly. They allow Boolean searching, wildcard capability, and more.
Exact Phrase Searching
Use quotation marks (" ") to search for an exact phrase. Example:
"debt forgiveness" will return results with that exact phrase expressed as written.
Truncation: Finding Similar Spellings
Use the tilde (~) to search for terms or names that may have alternate or similar spellings. Example:
dostoyevsky~ will return results for dostoevsky, dostoievski, dostoyevski, dostoevskii, dostoevski, etc.
Wildcard: Multiple Character Searching
JSTOR uses two different wildcard characters. Use the question mark (?) for single character searching and an asterisk (*) for multiple characters. Examples:
wom?m will return results for woman, women, womyn, etc.
organi?ation will return results for organization or organisation.
bird* will return results for bird, birds, birding, birdman, and any other words that start with "bird".
behavior* will return results for behavior, behavioral, behaviorist, behaviorism, behaviorally, etc.
Note: The root word for any wildcard search (using ~ or ?) must contain at least three letters preceding the wildcard. Examples: sm* will not work, but smo* will.
Proximity Searching: Finding Terms used Together
To find words near each other, use the tilde (~) and a number to set the proximity. Examples:
debt forgiveness~10 will find results that have "debt" and "forgiveness" within 10 words of each other.
Advanced Search also allows this function in the dropdown (in 5, 10, 25 proximity increments)
Boolean Searching
Use the Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT in the following ways:
AND
Artifacts AND religion will return articles containing BOTH words
OR
Native American or Pueblo will return articles containing EITHER word.
NOT
Homer NOT Simpson will return results containing "Homer", but EXCLUDE any results that contain "Simpson".
You may group together Boolean operators:
artifacts AND religion AND (Abenaki OR Wampanoag) NOT Iroqouis
Choose Search Help at the top of the page to view search suggestions.
Email research@babson.edu or call the Babson Horn Library Main Information Desk at 781-239-4596 for further assistance.