Using the AND Connector

Because AND can connect terms 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 terms 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 term 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!

Using the OR Connector

Use the OR connector to find documents that contain either or both of the terms or phrases linked by OR. Use the OR connector to link search terms that are synonyms, antonyms, alternative spellings, or abbreviations.

EXAMPLE:

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.

Using the W/n or /n (Within n Words) Connectors

Use the W/n connector to find documents with search terms that appear within "n" words of each other. The value of "n" can be any number up to 255. Use W/n to join terms and phrases that express parts of a single idea or to join closely-associated ideas.

Terms or phrases linked by W/n must be in the same segment (a specific part of a document). Either term may appear first.

Note:  W/n and /n connectors cannot be used in combination with W/s or W/p connectors.

EXAMPLE:

The following search request tells the research software to find documents in which both terms appear in the same segment, within three or fewer words of one another.

william w/3 hearst
william /3 hearst

It retrieves documents containing the terms William Randolf Hearst; William R. Hearst; and Hearst, William R.

Specifying the value of "n"

There is no magic formula for choosing the value of n, but these guidelines may prove useful:

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 terms are used in unrelated contexts.

Using Multiple W/n or /n Connectors

If W/n or /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 term "abate" within five words of either "airport" or "noise":

airport W/5 noise W/5 abat!
airport /5 noise /5 abat!

The following search first looks for documents in which forms of the term "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.

Using the NOT W/n (Not Within n Words) Connector

The NOT W/n connector tells the research software to find documents in which at least one occurrence of the first search term is not within n searchable words of the second term. The second term need not appear in the document at all, but if it does, all occurrences of the second term must be at least n+1 searchable words away from at least one occurrence of the first word.

EXAMPLE:

The following search finds documents in which the term "rico" occurs but at least one occurrence of the term "rico" is not within two searchable words of the term "puerto":

rico NOT W/2 puerto

This finds documents that have at least one occurrence of "rico" (possibly standing for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) that has no occurrences of the term "puerto" within two searchable words of it. This does not mean the same document could not have these two words within two searchable words of each other elsewhere.

Using the PRE/n (Preceded by n Words) Connector

Use the PRE/n connector to find documents in which the first search term 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.

Using the W/p or /p (Within Paragraph) Connectors

Use the W/p or /p connectors interchangeably to find documents with search terms that appear within the same paragraph. You can also use W/p when you want your search terms to have a general relationship to each other.

EXAMPLE:

The following example finds "rule" within the same paragraph as "sanction":

rule 11 W/p sanction
rule 11 /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
take over OR takeover /p poison pill

Note:  W/p and /p connectors cannot be used in combination with W/n connectors.

Using the NOT W/P (Not Within Paragraph) Connector

The NOT W/P connector tells the research software to find documents in which at least one occurrence of the first search term appears in a paragraph that does not contain the second term. The second term need not be in the document at all, but if it is, all occurrences of the second term must be in different paragraphs than at least one occurrence of the first term.

EXAMPLE:

cable NOT W/P television

This finds documents that have at least one occurrence of "cable" in a paragraph that has no occurrences of the term "television". This does not mean the same document could not have these two terms in the same paragraph elsewhere.

Using the W/seg (Within Segment) Connector

The W/seg connector tells the research software to find documents in which both of your search terms appear within the same segment. Terms 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 terms 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

Using the NOT W/seg (Not Within Segment) Connector

The NOT W/seg connector tells the research software to find documents that have at least one segment in which the first search term appears, but not the other search term.

EXAMPLE:

The following search finds documents in which there is at least one segment with the term "tank" but not the term "m1":

tank NOT W/SEG m1

This does not mean the same document could not have both terms in some other segment.

NOT W/seg is useful in searching highly structured and segmented files, such as annual reports or the CODE file in the INSRLW (insurance law) library.

Index terms are located in the INDEX segment of documents in INSRLW files. They are surrounded by spaces and # symbols. They are added to the documents that deal with those concepts, whether or not the terms are actually used. Index terms are not "fenced off" with # symbols in any library except INSRLW.

EXAMPLE:

Suppose you want to find a document in the code file of the INSRLW library that had been indexed with the index term # investment limitations # but not with the index term # securities #. Your search might look like this:

# investment limitations # NOT W/SEG # securities #

Using the W/s or /s (Within Sentence) Connectors

Use the W/s connector to find documents with search terms that appear within the same sentence. You can also use W/s when you want a close relationship between terms without specifying an exact proximity.

EXAMPLE:

The following example finds "sanction" within the same sentence as "frivolous":

sanction W/s frivolous
sanction /s frivolous

The following example finds "circumstances" within the same sentence as "mitigat!":

circumstances W/s mitigat!
circumstances /s mitigat!

Note:  W/s connectors cannot be used in combination with W/n connectors.

Using the NOT W/S (Not Within Sentence) Connector

The NOT W/S connector tells the research software to find documents in which at least one occurrence of the first search term appears in a sentence that does not contain the second term. The second term need not be in the document at all, but if it is, all occurrences of the second term must be in different sentences than at least one occurrence of the first word.

EXAMPLE:

market NOT W/S share

This finds documents that have at least one occurrence of "market" in a sentence that has no occurrences of the term "share". This does not mean the same document could not have these two terms in the same sentence elsewhere.

Using the AND NOT Connector

Use the AND NOT connector to find documents in which a search term or phrase is to be excluded.

EXAMPLE:

The following search finds documents where the term "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 term "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 be 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 term "manville," even as a reference, and any case that used the term "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 term 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.

Using the ATLEAST Command

Use ATLEAST to require that a term or terms 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.

Using the ALLCAPS Command

Using the ALLCAPS command, you can restrict your Boolean search to find terms 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.

Using the CAPS Command

Using the CAPS command, you can restrict your Boolean search to find terms in which capital letters appear anywhere in the term.

EXAMPLE:

caps (supervga)

finds documents containing superVga, SuperVga, Supervga, SUPERVGA, and so on.

Using the NOCAPS Command

Using the NOCAPS command, you can restrict your Boolean search to find terms 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.

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 term.

EXAMPLE:

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))

Using the SINGULAR Command

The research software automatically finds singular, regular plural, and possessive endings for search terms. However, there may be times when you want only the singular form of a term.

EXAMPLE:

To search for documents discussing job discrimination, enter:

singular (job) W/5 discrimination