Skill 4: Conduct a terms & connectors search
Searching on LexisNexis & Westlaw is more art than science and takes practice. You must analyze your problem, identify resources, select and organize search terms, and construct a search statement. Let's look at a sample problem, consider the steps involved in constructing a search statement, and then conduct a search.
Consider the following trade secrets problem
NewChip is considering bringing a suit in a federal district court against its largest competitor MegaChip for theft of trade secrets. MegaChip recently hired away 15 of NewChip's top chip designers. The designers were involved in the development of NewChip's latest chip technology. The suit will seek an injunction preventing the 15 employees from working for MegaChip in jobs where they might possibly, even inadvertently, disclose NewChip trade secrets. You are asked to write a memo on the legal theories involved in preventing the disclosure of trade secrets by employees.
Analyze the problem
When analyzing a problem, consider: How much do you already know about the area of law? How much additional background information do you need? Do you know the legal jargon? Do you know the general principles or legal rules of thumb? Do you already have a case? a statute? a regulation? What is the jurisdiction? What relief is being sought?
Identify resources to search
Think about what you hope to find with your search. For instance, are you seeking basic background information on the area of law or are you seeking cases as authority for a specific point of law. What information is needed to respond to your problem? What types of authorities (cases, statutes, regulations, etc.) are required? Based on your analysis, what resources are likely to contain the information you require?
Select and organize search terms including synonyms, antonyms and related terms
An efficient search requires a thoughtful selection of terms. You must consider synonyms, antonyms and related terms. Anticipating the various ways people can express the same concept, try listing the words you might use to formulate a search statement. What synonyms and related terms would you add to these? Think about the resource you plan to search, what terms make the most sense for that source? With LexisNexis, after you have selected a source and entered your terms in the Enter Search Terms box, use the Suggest Terms for My Search link to display a menu of additional terms. With Westlaw, use the Thesaurus link.
Which search mode
Terms & Connectors or Natural Language? LexisNexis & Westlaw offer multiple search modes. Terms & Connectors (or Boolean) searching offers a high degree of control and affords you the potential of locating all relevant documents. Natural Language searching allows you to use words and phrases descriptive of your problem in a question-like format. Natural Language searching is good for finding some, but not all relevant documents. LexisNexis offers a third Google-like natural language search mode called Easy Search.
Segments and Fields
Optimize your search by specifying the particular sections of a document to be searched. This is known as segment searching on LexisNexis and field searching on Westlaw. Segments and fields can be combined with terms & connectors to construct simple yet precise searches. With LexisNexis, use the Restrict by Segment pull-down menu located just below the Enter Search Terms box to display a menu of the segments available for your source. Segments vary by the types of documents in a source. You may use the menu to add segment restrictions to your search statement or type them directly into the Enter Search Terms box. With Westlaw, available fields are displayed in the Fields pull-down menu. Once you know the field codes, you may type them directly into the search box.
The LexisNexis and Westlaw segment and field syntaxes are very specific and must be followed exactly. For example, a LexisNexis segment search looks like this: OPINIONBY(flaum); and a Westlaw field search like this: OP(flaum). Both search for cases whose principal opinion was authored by Judge Flaum.
Connectors & Expanders
Connectors and expanders allow you to specify a logical relationship between your search terms, such as one term and the other, one term or the other, or one term within the same sentence of the other. With LexisNexis, a box listing available Search Connectors is displayed just to the right of the search box. With Westlaw, a list of connectors is displayed in a box just below the search box.
For an annotated table of commonly used connectors and expanders, see LexisNexis & Westlaw Connectors & Expanders (pdf).
Search connector processing and priority
The best search is the simplest search. A simple, elegant search statement with only a few connectors will almost always work better than a more complex one. With a complex search statement, you must consider the order in which connectors are processed. Processing does not run from left to right. Connectors are processed in the following order of priority:
LexisNexis: or; /n; pre/n; not/n; /s; /p; /seg; and; and not
Westlaw: space (or); +n; /n; +s; /s; +p; /p; &; %
For instance, the or connector in the search statement a and b or x and y would be processed first producing the unintended search: a and (b or x) and y. When in doubt, use parentheses to group terms & connectors in your statement. Connectors inside parentheses have priority over and are processed before connectors outside parentheses: (a and b) or (x and y).
Broad or narrow search?
Imagine you have analyzed the trade secrets problem, selected and organized search terms, constructed several potential terms & connectors search statements, and decided to begin by searching for federal case law. Assuming all your searches will retrieve at least some relevant cases, how do you know which search is best? The one with the most hits? the one with the fewest? The answer is dictated by your strategic needs: do you need to see every relevant case (broad search) or do you need to see just a few good cases (narrow search).
Sample LexisNexis & Westlaw Terms & Connectors Searches
The following LexisNexis and Westlaw terms and connectors searches were constructed using terms taken directly from the trade secrets problem. Broaden a search by using fewer terms and looser connectors. Narrow a search by adding additional terms and using tighter connectors. Add precision to a search by using segments and fields.
| Search statement | Results |
|---|---|
| trade secret /p disclos! | >3,000* |
| trade secret /s disclos! | >3,000* |
| trade secret /s disclos! /s prevent | 318 |
| trade secret /s disclos! /s prevent /s employe* | 98 |
| trade secret /5 disclos! /5 prevent /5 employe* | 45 |
| ln-summary(trade secret /s disclos! /s prevent /s employe*) | 49 |
| *Maximum hits on LexisNexis is 3,000 |
| Search statement | Results |
|---|---|
| "trade secret" /p disclos! | 5,216 |
| "trade secret" /s disclos! | 4,427 |
| "trade secret" /s disclos! /s prevent | 311 |
| "trade secret" /s disclos! /s prevent /s employe* | 99 |
| "trade secret" /5 disclos! /5 prevent /5 employe* | 40 |
| sy,di("trade secret" /s disclos! /s prevent /s employe*) | 45 |
| 212k138.33 /75 ("trade secret" /s disclos!) | 68 |
Task 4(a): Conduct a LexisNexis terms & connectors search
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You should be at the search screen for the LexisNexis Federal Court Cases, Combined source. In the LexisNexis Enter Search Terms box, enter the following terms & connectors search statement:
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Notice the Suggest Terms for My Search and Check Spelling links. Notice the Search Help box. Click Search.
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Your search should return approximately 98 cases. You should be viewing a list of citations in the middle frame. The cite list includes case citations, overviews (written by LexisNexis editors), core terms (computer generated key terms), and hits (short snippets from the case showing your search terms in context). Click the Hide Hits/Show Hits link located in the middle of the top frame to turn off/on the display of hits.
trade secret /s prevent /s disclos! /s employe*
Task 4(b): Conduct a Westlaw terms & connectors search
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You should be at the search screen for the Westlaw All Federal Cases database. In the Terms & Connectors query box, enter the following search statement:
"trade secret" /s prevent /s disclos! /s employe*
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Notice the Thesaurus and Term Frequency links. Term Frequency allows you to specify the number of times a term must appear in a document. Notice the Add Connectors or Expanders Help. Notice the Recent Searches & Locates pull-down menu. A very useful feature. Click Search Westlaw.
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Your search should return approximately 99 cases. Notice the search terms are displayed in context and are highlighted in yellow. Notice the ResultsPlus box to the right of the cite list. ResultsPlus locates relevant explanatory materials like treatises, legal encyclopedias and ALR annotations as well as key numbers based on your search. Notice the Result Options menu located at the extreme right of the bottom frame. Select Hide Terms in List to turn off the display of highlighted terms.
Congratulations! You analyzed a problem, selected and organized search terms, constructed a search statement and conducted a search. Next, we will look at navigating and manipulating search results.