NexisUni
| date = 2018 | or | date is 09/01/2016 |
| date > 12/31/2017 | or | date aft 12/31/2017 |
| date < 01/01/2016 | or | date bef 01/01/2004 |
Westlaw
A date-limitation drop-down menu is available on the search screen.
| NexisUni | Westlaw | |
| Search terms as a phrase | Contiguous words default as a phrase: work made for hire |
Quotation marks: "work made for hire" |
| Find any word in a document, either word must appear in the document |
or oil or petroleum |
space (or use "or") oil petroleum |
| Both words must appear in document |
Enter the word and or use the symbol & trust and charitable trust & charitable |
and trust and charitable |
| Word must appear at least x number of times in the document |
atleast atleast10(passive loss) |
The search screen has a button for "term frequency" |
| Find two words in same document within a specified number of words of each other |
near/ or w/n oil near/2 petroleum |
/n oil /2 petroleum |
| First word must not precede second by not more than specified number of words |
onear/n overtime onear/3 compensation |
+n united +3 america |
| Find words in the same sentence |
w/25 circumstances w/25 mitigating |
/s circumstances /s mitigating |
| Find words in the same paragraph |
w/75 rule w/75 sanction |
/p rule /p sanction |
| Combining /n with /s or /p in the same search statement |
Does not allow: unnatural /3 accumulation /s snow |
Allows: unnatural /3 accumulation /s snow |
| Exclude the second search term |
and not trust and not charitable |
% (or "but not") trust % charitable |
| First word is not within specified number of words of second word |
not/n or not w/n puerto not/5 rico |
|
| First word is not in the same paragraph as the second word |
not w/p cable not w/p television |
|
| Words appear in the same document segment or field |
w/seg (can be any segment) opec w/seg gasoline |
Add specific field or date restriction to search , i.e. SY (opec and gasoline) |
| Word excluded from document segment or field in which other word appears |
not w/seg trust not w/seg charitable |
Add specific field or date restriction to search , i.e. SY(trust % charitable ) |
| Word excluded from sentence in which other word appears |
not w/s trust not w/s charitable |
|
| First word must appear before second word in same sentence |
+s charitable +s trust |
| LexisNexis | Westlaw | |
| universal character * |
amist*d = amisatad, amisted, amistod, etc. g**se = goose, geese, etc. |
amist*d = amisatad, amisted, amistod, etc. g**se = goose, geese, etc. |
| truncation ! | regulat! = regulate, regulatory, regulations, etc. | regulat! = regulate, regulatory, regulations, etc. |
| plurals |
plural forms automatically searched; irregular plurals are not, i.e. lawyer, lawyers, but not goose, geese |
plural forms automatically searched; irregular plurals are not, i.e. lawyer, lawyers, but not goose, geese |
| hyphenated words | hyphen read as a space, so hyphenated word seen as two words, i.e. pre-trial =pre-trial or pre trial, but not pretrial | use hyphenated form to retrieve all variations of compound words: pre-trial = pre-trial, pre trial, pretrial |
| section symbol |
use @ with or without a space |
|
| abbreviations, acronyms | recognizes all variations of state abbreviations and many acronyms. You must type in I.R.S. or IRS. |
use periods and no spaces to retrieve all variations, i.e. i.r.s. =IRS, I.R.S., I R S, I. R. S. |
Additional search tip:
In Westlaw, to search for a word exactly as you typed it, use the pound (#) symbol. For example, #deduction will find deduction but not deductions
