Terms and Connectors (Boolean) Searching

The LexisNexis^TM® research system searches for documents containing the specific words and combinations of words you provide as search terms. Every word (or form of the word) in your search terms must appear in the document for that document to be included in your search results.

The terms should reflect ideas essential to your research topic. Try to include alternative words and avoid words that are too general. For example, to find articles about efforts in the fast food industry to use recyclable packaging, you might use these words:

     recycle   package    container   fast food

You must link the search terms in a search request using boolean connectors. Connectors such as OR, AND, W/n, and so on, define relationships between your search words. You can also use universal characters to include documents with word variations in your search results.

Click on a link below for more information:

• Boolean Connectors
• Universal Characters

Boolean Connectors

Boolean connectors such as AND, OR, and W/n, define relationships between your search words. A group of words that does not contain a connector is recognized as a phrase, such as  air bags.  On the other hand,  heirs AND assigns  is not considered a phrase because it contains the connector "AND".

The most common boolean connectors are described below, with examples provided.

AND connector

Use AND when all the terms must appear and may be far apart from each other.

EXAMPLE:   air bags AND safety

If you are searching for a phrase that contains the word and , omit the word  and  from your search.

EXAMPLE:   profit loss  would find the phrase  profit and loss

OR connector

Use OR when at least one of the terms must appear (such as synonyms, alternate spellings, or abbreviations).

EXAMPLE:   kidney OR renal

W/n connector

Use W/n to specify the proximity between the terms. The W/n does not specify the word order--either word may appear first. (NOTE:  W represents within and n represents the number of words from 1 to 255.)

EXAMPLE:  professional sport W/15 antitrust

To determine the value to use for n, consider the following as a rule of thumb:

• To find terms in the same phrase, use W/3, W/4, or W/5.
  
• To find terms in the same sentence, use W/15.
  
• To find terms in the same paragraph, use W/50.
  

AND NOT connector

Use AND NOT to exclude specific terms. (NOTE:  This connector must be used at the end of a search string.)

EXAMPLE:   ganglia OR tumor AND NOT malignant

PRE/n connector

Use PRE/n  to find two words when the first word must precede the second word by a specified number of words. (NOTE:  PRE represents precedes and n represents the number of words from 1 to 255.)

EXAMPLE:   behavioral PRE/3 disturbances   would find articles in which behavioral precedes disturbances by three or fewer words

Once you've decided which search terms and connectors to use, you can submit your search.

EXAMPLE:    recycle W/25 fast food W/10 container OR package     finds documents where either "container" or "package" is in the same sentence as "fast food," and "fast food" is in the same paragraph as "recycle".

Universal Characters

Use universal characters to include word variations.

• The exclamation point ( ! ) finds a root word plus all the words made by adding letters to the end of it. For example:
  
  recycl!  finds "recycle," "recycling" and "recyclable."
  
  

  NOTE:  Words that work best with ! are those that are unique in their truncated form. For example, if you search for fir! (thinking that you want to find "fired," "firing," or "fires"), your results will also include "first," "firm," and so on.

  
  
• The asterisk ( * ) holds one space for a character at any point in a word. For example:
  
  bernst**n  finds the "ei" and the "ie" spelling of the name.