Research Guides: Basic Terms & Connectors Searching: More Help with Terms & Connectors Searching

CALI Lesson on Search Logic & Strategies

Available to Law Students only (see a reference librarian if you do not have a CALI activation code).

Introduction to Search Logic and Strategies (CALI Lesson) The lesson is designed for students taking an introductory legal research course who are already somewhat familiar with online research on Westlaw and LexisNexis. Students will learn about keyword search formulation strategies and the mechanics of Boolean searching on both systems. This lesson will be useful for students with basic or intermediate keyword searching knowledge and experience. 45 - 60 min.

Videos on Lexis, Westlaw & Bloomberg Law Searching

Please note that Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law are only available to law students and law faculty.

Basic Terms & Connectors Video Part I: Lexis & Westlaw Pricing -- by Susan Boland This video provides an overview of Lexis and Westlaw pricing structures. The video is 4:22 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Basic Terms & Connectors Part 2: Framing the Issue and Brainstorming terms -- Susan M Boland This video demonstrates how to analyze a fact pattern in order to frame your issue for online searching. The video is 6:51 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Basic Terms & Connectors Video Part 3: Selecting a Source -- by Susan Boland This video explains how to select the appropriate source for online searching in Lexis and Westlaw. It provides questions to ask and demonstrates finding sources by name, browsing for sources, and how to identify the scope note. It also explains the importance of the scope note. This video is 9:15 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Basic Terms & Connectors Part 4: Choosing a Search Method -- by Susan Boland This video explains the different search methods available in Lexis and Westlaw and when to use which search method. The video is 7:15 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Basic Terms & Connectors Video Part 5: Constructing Searches -- by Susan Boland This video explains terms and connectors (also known as Boolean) searching on Lexis and Westlaw. It covers stop words, truncation, plurals, acronyms, connectors, and order of processing. The video is 15:38 minutes long and features a closed captioning and a table of contents.
Basic Terms & Connectors Searching on Lexis & Westlaw Video for LLM Students: Constructing Search Queries -- by Susan Boland This video is designed for LLM students and covers choosing essential terms, accounting for variations of those terms, and selecting appropriate connectors between those terms. It is 12:18 minutes long and features closed captioning.
Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching Video Part I: Folders Part I of the Advanced Lexis and Westlaw searching series of videos deals with Folders. These tools can help organize your research and make it more cost effective and efficient. The video is 7:08 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching Video Part 2: Highlighting, Annotations, and History This video looks at the cost and time efficient tools of highlighting, annotations, and history in Lexis and Westlaw. The video is 3:33 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching Video Part 3: Fields & Segments -- by Susan Boland This video explains how to use fields and segments in Lexis and Westlaw for advanced searching. It also covers some of the more useful fields and segments. The video is 8:45 minutes long and features closed captioning.
Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching Video Part 4: Commands & Filters for 1Ls -- by Susan Boland This video for 1-L students covers using selected commands and filters in Lexis and Westlaw. It is 9:48 minutes long and features closed captioning.
Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching Video Part 4: Advanced Commands & Filters [for advanced users] -- by Susan Boland This video describes how to use commands and filters for advanced searching in Lexis and Westlaw. It covers more commands than the video created for 1-L viewers. The video is 11:31 minutes long and features closed captioning.
Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching Video Part 5: Filters, Fields & Segments -- by Susan Boland This video, updated in 2021, explains how to use filters, fields and segments in Lexis and Westlaw for advanced searching. It also covers some of the more useful fields and segments. The video is 11:51 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Advanced Lexis & Westlaw Searching Video Part 6: Commands & Special Search Techniques -- by Susan Boland This video covers Westlaw commands such as Find, KeyCite, Database Identifier, and Publication Name; as well as turning plurals on and off on a Lexis or Westlaw search. The video also identifies general cost saving search techniques, using the Lexis Legal Issue Trail, the Lexis Atleast command, and more. The video is 9:27 minutes long and features closed captioning and a table of contents.
Cost Effective Research on Lexis -- by Shannon Kemen This video discusses how to perform cost effective research on Lexis.
Cost Effective Research on Westlaw -- by Shannon Kemen This video explains how you can conduct cost effective research on Westlaw.

Searching on Lexis Advance

Please note that Lexis Advance is only available to law students and law faculty.

Overview of Searching on Lexis Advance (PDF) This brochure describes the search options on Lexis Advance.
Natural Language Searching on Lexis (YouTube) This 2:49 min. Training on the Go video shows you how to do Natural Language searching in Lexis.
Using Search Commands and Connectors at Lexis Advance (PDF) This brochure provides an overview of Lexis connectors.
Terms & Connectors on Lexis (YouTube) This 3:16 min. Training on the Go video demonstrates common connectors and truncation used for Boolean searching in Lexis.
Introduction to Search Term Maps on Lexis (YouTube) This 4:26 min. Training on the Go video introduces you to the search term mapping feature on Lexis. The Search Term Map color codes your search terms and uses a location bar to jump to the most relevant part of the case.
Selecting Multiple Sources to Search on Lexis (YouTube) This 1:24 min. Training on the Go video shows you how to select multiple sources to search at one time.
Using the Advanced Search Feature on Lexis (YouTube) This 1:42 min. Training on the Go video introduces you to the Advance Search features on Lexis.
Lexis Advance Segments (PDF) In Lexis Advance, documents of the same type have a common structure,composed of parts referred to as segments. You can restrict your search to a specific segment of a document, such as the name of a case opinion or the text of a statute section. Different types of documents have different segments. This brochure explains how to search segments and provides a chart of available segments.
Segments on Lexis (YouTube) This 2:06 Training on the Go video shows you how to do advance searching using segments.

Westlaw

Please note that Westlaw is only available to law students and law faculty. Note: You must sign on to Westlaw in order to access the tutorials.

Bloomberg Law

Please note that Bloomberg Law is only available to law students and law faculty. You must sign on to Bloomberg Law in order to access the tutorials.

Getting Started on Bloomberg Law (html)
Court Opinions on Bloomberg Law
This B-Law video covers how to find and navigate court opinions on Bloomberg Law. It is 6:06 min. long.