diff --git a/app/controllers/search_controller.rb b/app/controllers/search_controller.rb
index 6c2f434748c360ca9fd67194189b3775e2dd1cb8..f3a3206153ce75c327a6930ed22c5b9cb6a33e67 100644
--- a/app/controllers/search_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/search_controller.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class SearchController < ApplicationController
   private
   
   def search_query
-    @search_query ||= params[:q] || params[:term] || ''
+    @search_query ||= (params[:q] || params[:term] || '').strip
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/search_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/search_controller_spec.rb
index 5ec4baf6d5a28019d2914918db1eaa3e5552bcd9..bc07db4ae131daeb96a07e61f5b16dbfbf859f20 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/search_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/search_controller_spec.rb
@@ -35,5 +35,16 @@ describe SearchController, :type => :controller do
     end
   end
 
+  describe '#search_query' do
+    it 'strips the term parameter' do
+      @controller.params[:term] = ' IN SPACE! '
+      expect(@controller.send(:search_query)).to eq 'IN SPACE!'
+    end
+
+    it 'strips the q parameter' do
+      @controller.params[:q] = ' IN SPACE! '
+      expect(@controller.send(:search_query)).to eq 'IN SPACE!'
+    end
+  end
 
 end