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| The following connectors available on lexisONE Free Case Law: |
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Using the AND Connector
Because AND can connect words that are far
apart from one another or in different segments, searches
using AND usually find more documents than searches using
the W/n connector. As a general rule, use
AND when it doesn't matter where your search words appear
in a document. Use the W/n connector when there is a connection
between your search terms and you need to find the terms near
each other.
EXAMPLE:
If your search terms are fairly unique,
the AND connector can find documents that are related to your
research. Using the AND connector can also help you get started
on your research, until you begin to find more specific concepts
and terms for your search. For example, if you want information
about how land can be preserved in ohio using a land trust,
you could use this search:
land trust AND Ohio
However, to find documents that are relevant
when your search terms are less specific, you may need to use
the W/n connector. For example, the following search will find
more relevant documents than if the AND connector were used:
business loss w/10 tax deduction
If you're looking for a document
in which the same word occurs twice, such as a court case with
Marvin v. Marvin as respondents, do not use the AND connector.
The following search would find many unrelated documents:
marvin AND marvin
Instead, use the W/n or W/seg connector,
such as
marvin W/5 marvin
marvin W/SEG marvin
Finding phrases
containing the word "and"
If you're searching for a phrase that contains the word "and,"
remember to omit the word "and" from your search request.
Otherwise, "and" is interpreted as a connector. For example,
if you're looking for "profit and loss" statements, your search
request should be
profit loss
Omitting the word "and" ensures that the
words "profit" and "loss" appear near each other in the document.
Using AND when searching
abstracts
Because abstracts are usually short, the AND connector is
a good choice when searching for multiple terms. The following
search in an abstract file finds a large number of documents,
but the chances of document relevancy are great:
satellite AND launch!
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Using the OR Connector
Use the OR connector to find documents that
contain either or both of the words or phrases linked by OR.
Use the OR connector to link search words that are synonyms,
antonyms, alternative spellings, or abbreviations.
EXAMPLES:
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Synonyms
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lawyer OR counsel
OR attorney
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Antonyms
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regulated OR deregulated
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Alternatives
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takeover or take
over
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Abbreviations
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international business
machines
OR i.b.m. OR ibm
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The search looks for the words or phrases
linked by the OR connector, not the word "or" itself. The
words or phrases linked by OR can be in any part of a document.
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Using the W/n Connector
Use the W/n connector to find documents
with search words that appear within "n" words of each other.
The value of "n" can be any number up to 255. Use W/n to join
words and phrases that express parts of a single idea or to
join closely-associated ideas.
Words or phrases linked by W/n must be in
the same segment (a specific part of a document). Either word
may appear first.
EXAMPLE:
The following search request tells the research software to
find documents in which both words appear in the same segment,
within three or fewer words of one another.
william w/3 hearst
It retrieves documents containing the words William Randolf
Hearst; William R. Hearst; and Hearst, Willliam R.
Specifying the value
of "n"
There is no magic formula for choosing the value of n, but
these guidelines may prove useful:
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Choose this:
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for search words to appear:
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W/3 - W/5
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in approximately the same phrase
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W/15
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in approximately the same sentence
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W/50
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in approximately the same paragraph
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CAUTION: Although you
can choose a number for n as large as 255, you may wish to
choose a number less than 100. Choosing a number greater than
100 is likely to retrieve documents in which your search words
are used in unrelated contexts.
Using Multiple W/n
Connectors
If W/n connectors have the same number, they operate from
left to right. If they have different numbers, the smaller
number operates first. The following search finds "airport"
within five words of "noise" and then some form of the word
"abate" within five words of either "airport" or "noise":
airport W/5 noise W/5 abat!
The following search first looks for documents
in which forms of the word "assign" appear within five words
of "collateral," then finds occurrences of "lease" within
8 words of the forms of "assign":
lease W/8 assign! W/5 collateral
The search above finds documents that contain
all three search terms, and the search terms would be within
13 searchable words of one another.
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Using the AND NOT Connector
Use the AND NOT connector to find documents
in which a search word or phrase is to be excluded.
EXAMPLE:
The following search finds documents where the word "trust"
occurs but the word "charitable" does not.
trust AND NOT charitable
Because the exclusion covers the entire document, a document
would be excluded if the word "charitable" appears anywhere
in the document. Therefore, even if "charitable" is used as
a term of distinction in a document, the document would not
be included in the search results. For example, a document that
includes the phrase "this is not a charitable trust" would not
returned, even though that is the type of trust you want information
about.
Using AND NOT with
segment searches
When documents have information in some consistent part or
segment, you can use AND NOT with less risk. For example,
if you want to find court cases that mention asbestos, but
do not have the Manville Corporation as a plaintiff or defendant,
you can place the AND NOT connector at the end of your search,
as in the following example:
AND NOT name (manville)
This restricts the operation of AND NOT to the NAME segment.
If you do not use a segment search, but instead end your search
with
AND NOT manville
you eliminate undesired cases, but you also eliminate any cases
that mention the word "manville," even as a reference, and any
case that used the word "manville" unrelated to the Manville
Corporation.
Putting AND NOT
last
If you include AND NOT in your search, it should be the last
connector you use. Otherwise it may produce undesired results.
If you want to exclude court cases with
the Manville Corporation, as either a plaintiff or defendant,
the last part of your search should look like this:
AND NOT name (manville)
If you put another search word after that
part of your search, such as
AND NOT name (manville) AND bhopal
you would not eliminate all documents with "manville" in the
NAME segment. In fact, you might not eliminate any. By linking
"bhopal" to NAME (manville) with the AND connector, only documents
that have both "manville" in the NAME segment and the word "bhopal"
somewhere in the text would be eliminated.
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Using the PRE/n Connector
Use the PRE/n connector to find documents
in which the first search word precedes the second by not
more than the stated number of words. As with W/n, both words
must be in the same segment.
EXAMPLE:
The following search finds documents in which "pay" precedes
"television" by three or fewer words:
pay PRE/3 television
If you use the following search request
instead, you find documents that refer to pay television,
as well as documents that discussed what television networks
pay their employees and how often television news teams pay
attention to local events.
pay W/3 television
PRE/n is primarily useful in situations
where a different word order significantly alters meaning.
For example, "summary judgment" is significantly different
from "judgment summary."
If you are searching for individuals whose
names might produce undesired results if used in reverse order,
such as McGeorge Bundy, consider using the PRE/n connector.
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Using the W/p (Within Paragraph) Connector
Use the W/p connector to find documents
with search words that appear within the same paragraph. You
can also use W/p when you want your search words to have a
general relationship to each other.
EXAMPLES:
The following example finds "rule" within the same paragraph
as "sanction":
rule 11 W/p sanction
The following example finds "take over"
or "takeover" within the same paragraph as "poison pill":
take over OR takeover W/p poison pill
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Using the W/seg Connector
The W/seg connector tells the research software
to find documents in which both of your search words appear
within the same segment. Words joined with W/seg can occur
together in any segment.
EXAMPLE:
The search below finds documents in which "opec" and "gasoline"
are in the same segment:
opec W/SEG gasoline
W/seg is slightly more restrictive than
the AND connector. In the example above,
a document in which "opec" is in the headline and "gasoline"
is in the text would not be found by this search, because
the words are not in the same segment.
W/seg is primarily useful for searching
files of highly segmented information, such as annual reports.
If you want to find annual report footnotes that mention unitary
taxation, your search might look like this:
tax! W/SEG unitary
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Using the W/s (Within Sentence) Connector
Use the W/s connector to find documents
with search words that appear within the same sentence. You
can also use W/s when you want a close relationship between
words without specifying an exact proximity.
EXAMPLES:
The following example finds "sanction" within the same sentence
as "frivolous":
sanction W/s frivolous
The following example finds "circumstances"
within the same sentence as "mitigat!":
circumstances W/s mitigat!
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Using the ALLCAPS Command
Using the ALLCAPS command, you can restrict
your Boolean search to find words in which all letters are
capitalized.
EXAMPLE:
allcaps (era)
finds documents referencing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
The documents this search request finds may also contain occurrences
of the time period (era) or laundry detergent (Era), but only
incidentally.
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Using the ATLEAST Command
Use ATLEAST to require that a word or words
appear "at least" so many times in a document. Use
ATLEAST when you want only documents that contain an in-depth
discussion on a topic rather than just a mention.
EXAMPLE:
To find documents that contain an in-depth discussion of CERCLA,
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act, enter:
atleast10(cercla)
This search requires CERCLA to appear in every document at least
10 times. You can use any number from 1 to 255 with the ATLEAST
command.
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Using the CAPS Command
Using the CAPS command, you can restrict
your Boolean search to find words in which capital letters
appear anywhere in the word.
EXAMPLE:
caps (supervga)
finds documents containing superVga, SuperVga, Supervga, SUPERVGA,
and so on.
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Using the NOCAPS Command
Using the NOCAPS command, you can restrict
your Boolean search to find words in which none of the letters
are capitalized.
EXAMPLE:
To search on documents about foreign aid, but not the disease
AIDS, use
nocaps (aid)
The documents this search request finds may also include references
to AIDS, but only incidentally.
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Using the PLURAL Command
The research software automatically finds
singular, regular plural, and possessive endings for search
words. However, there may be times when you want only the
plural form of a word.
EXAMPLES:
To search for documents discussing Steven Jobs, the founder
of Apple Computer, enter:
steven W/3 plural (job)
You can further refine your search request
by combining the CAPS and PLURAL commands:
steven W/3 caps (plural (jobs))
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Using the SINGULAR Command
The research software automatically finds
singular, regular plural, and possessive endings for search
words. However, there may be times when you want only the
singular form of a word.
EXAMPLE:
To search for documents discussing job discrimination, enter:
singular (job) W/5 discrimination
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