General Search Tips for LexisNexis Academic

Word Adjacency

• Adjacent words not separated by a connector such as and or or are searched as a phrase rather than as individual words -- you do not need to enclose them in quotation marks. If the phrase you want contains a logical connector, you can omit the connector since it is an automatically deleted "stop" word.
  Examples: Headwaters Forest, tax free, automobile accident
• Use connectors to establish logical relationships between words and concepts. You can use multiple connectors in a search request. They are best used with the "Guided Search" option rather then the "Basic" option.
  • and -- This connector links words or phrases that must both appear anywhere in the same document, no matter how close or far apart.
    Example: bank and deregulate -- finds both bank and deregulate anywhere in the same document
  • or -- This connector links synonyms, alternative forms of expression, acronyms, and so on.
    Example: doctor or physician -- finds either doctor or physician
  • and not -- This connector excludes documents that contain a specific word or phrase. Use with caution since it can also exclude relevant documents.
    Example: doctor and not malpractice
  • w/n -- This connector looks for search words and phrases within a specified number of words to each other. The letter n stands for a number from 1 to 255. W/n does not specify word order.
    Example: john w/3 doe -- finds john within up to three words of doe. Use to link first and last names, allowing for middle names and initials, as well as the last name preceding the first name.
  • w/p -- This connector looks for documents with search words in the same paragraph. Use this connector when you want your search words to have a general relationship to each other.
    Example: rule w/p sanction -- finds rule within the same paragraph as sanction
  • w/s -- This connector looks for documents with search words in the same sentence. Use this connector when you want your search words to have a close relationship between words without specifying an exact proximity.
    Example: sanction w/s frivolous -- finds sanction within the same sentence as frivolous
  • pre/n -- This connector requires both words to appear in the document, and the first word must precede the second word by n words. Use the PRE/n connector when a different word order would change the meaning.
    Example: cable pre/2 television -- finds cable television but not television cables

• You can use the following truncation characters to broaden the scope of your research by including keyword variation.
  • Asterisk (*) -- This replaces one character, can appear more than once in a word and can be used anywhere EXCEPT as the first character.
    Example: If you enter the term, wom*n, the search results will include both the terms woman and women.
  • Exclamation Mark (!) -- This replaces one or more characters at the end of a word.
    Example: Use negligen! to search for negligent, negligently, or negligence.

    Note: Words that work best are those that are unique in their truncated form.
    Example: If you search for fir! (thinking that you want to find fired, firing, or fires), your results will also include first, firm, etc.

• Documents in LexisNexis Academic are subdivided into "fields". These fields can be used to specify where the words you enter must appear, e.g, the headline, lead paragraph, fulltext, publication source, or author field. Specifying fields is a way to increase relevancy or precision.
• Fields available vary depending upon the category of information being searched. There are two ways to specify fields:
  1. Using the "Guided Search" option, select the field you want searched using the pull-down menu.
  2. On the default "Basic" search screen use the Narrow Search with Additional Terms box and enter the field name; then, enclosed in parentheses, type the word(s) you want to find in the field. Field searching cannot be done by itself, but must be done in combination with a word entered in the Keyword box. Since there is no online documentation showing possible fields associated with a LexisNexis category, the best approach is to review references retrieved in a search to see the field structure.

  Examples:

  publication (new york times)

  byline (bennett)

  headline (headwaters forest)

  company (Pacific Lumber)

• You can limit your search to documents published on a specific day or within the date range you specify. You may either select a predefined date range from the drop-down date list or enter your own custom date range. Most date formats are supported.
  Examples: 7/24/97; Jul 24, 1997; 7/97; July 1997; 1997
• To specify a specific day, select the custom date range option and enter the same date in both the From and To fields.
  Example: From: 8/3/97 To: 8/3/97
• To search all documents published on or after a specific date, enter that date in the From field and leave the To field blank.
  Example: From: July 5, 1996 To:    searches all documents published on or after July 5, 1996.
• And, to search all documents published on or before a specific date, enter that date in the To field and leave the From field blank.
  Example: From:    To: 9/15/96 searches all documents published on or before September 15, 1996.

  Note: If you do not enter a specific day or month, the first day of the month/year you entered is assumed when placed in the From field and the last day of the month/year is assumed when placed in the To field.
  Example: From: 1995 To: 8/96 searches documents published on or between January 1, 1995 and August 31, 1996.