|
|
|
Finding the Database |
|
Terms & Connectors |
|
Segments/Fields |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Boolean Operators (OR, AND, NOT) |
|
Phrase (“ ”) |
|
Proximity Connectors (/n, /s, /p and “preceding”
operators) |
|
Nesting and Order of Operations |
|
Term Extenders and Universal Characters (! And
*) |
|
Date Restrictions |
|
|
|
|
|
/p finds documents which contain the terms
within the same paragraph. |
|
“regulatory taking” /p “endangered species” 1 -- case |
|
/s finds documents which contain the terms
within the same sentence |
|
“regulatory taking” /s “clean air act” 1 -- case |
|
/n (where “n” is a number) finds documents which
contain the terms within the given number of words (either preceding or
following) from each other. |
|
paul /3 callister |
|
Note: It is almost always a good idea to search
for a person using the method above because of middle names and initials. |
|
To require a certain order for the terms use
pre/n. |
|
peter pre/3 hook |
|
To exclude a certain proximity use not /n.
(LEXIS ONLY) |
|
(peter pre/3 hook) not/3 (pan or captain) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Order of operations can be controlled using
parentheses. |
|
(peter pre/3 hook) not/3 (pan or captain) |
|
Operations within parentheses are resolved
first, then those results are used in resolving the rest of the search. |
|
Nested parentheses are also allowed. |
|
((peter pre/3 hook) not/3 (pan or captain)) and
“journal of law” |
|
The innermost set of parentheses are processed
first. |
|
As a general rule, any time you use two or more
connectors or operators, you should use parentheses to control the order of
the search. |
|
|
|
|
|
The asterisk (*) is used as a "wild
card" or single character placeholder (known as a "universal
character") in a search. Thus, the search term "wom*n" will
return "woman" and "women." |
|
A good use for the universal character is when
the spelling is in doubt. |
|
"Lieberman" or
"Leiberman"?--try "L**berman" |
|
The exclamation point (!) is used in both
services as a root expander (sometimes called a truncation). A root
expander allows you to designate a word root (or stem) in a search and
receive all variations on that root. |
|
"wom!" will return all words
starting with those three letters, including "woman" and
"women," but also "womankind," "womb,"
"wombat," and so forth. |
|
Because some stems are roots for a large and
diverse group of words, the root expander should be used with some caution. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notes