When selecting a case law database, don't forget to choose the jurisdiction, time period, and level of court that is most appropriate for your purposes.
Note: Listed above are the databases that law students are most likely to use. It's possible that, once you leave law school, you will not have access to the same databases. Resources such as Fastcase or Casetext may be your go-to. For any database, take the time to familiarize yourself with the basic and advanced search functions.
CHOOSING SEARCH TERMS
When choosing search terms, we recommend that you first identify the players and actions involved in your research problem. So, for example, if asked about the liability of a doctor who left a scalpel inside the patient while performing surgery, you might get a list like this:
Doctor, patient, scalpel, surgery, inside, liability
Then ask yourself some questions. Are there any synonyms for these words? Are there any words that are not synonyms, but could be used interchangeably? Are there any words that are broader or narrower categories of these words? Then you might start to get something like:
Surgeon, Doctor, Physician, Medical Personnel, Patient, Victim, Body, Scalpel, Instrument, Tool, Surgery, Operation, Inside, Remain, Left, Liability, Tort
*Note: This is by no means an exhaustive list, just an example of how you might begin to expand it.
Then ask yourself: How might these terms be used by judges writing cases? Which terms are actually necessary? If using terms and connectors, how might you account for variations of these terms? Then you might get a list like this:
Doctor, Surg!, Physician, Medic!, Patient Victim, Body, Scalpel, Instrument, Tool, Surgery, Operat!,Inside, Remain, Left, Liab!, Tort
So then, you might start tinkering around with searches that look like:
adv: (doctor OR surg!) /p (patient OR body OR victim) /p (instrument OR tool) /p (inside OR left OR remain)
Do your search terms turn up any new useful language? This search might turn up the phrase “res ipsa loquitur” – so then you might want to add that to your search and change it to something like:
adv: (doctor OR surg!) /p (patient OR body OR victim) /p (instrument OR tool) AND "res ipsa loquitur"
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CONNECTOR
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EXAMPLE(S)
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EXPLANATION
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WESTLAW ((click on the advanced link by the search bar for guidance)
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LEXIS (click the advanced search link for guidance.)
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AND
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Burden AND Proof
Burden & Proof
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Use this when you need both term/phrases, but have no better idea of how close they might be. You can also use this to connect two terms with another phrase
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&
AND
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Lexis recognizes Westlaw search connectors!
and
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SAME PARAGRAPH
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Burden /p proof
Burden w/p proof
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Use this when you know that your two search terms will be closely linked
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/p
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w/p
/p
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SAME SENTENCE
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Burden /s proof
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Use this if you know that two terms will be in the same sentence (if they are part of a phrase).
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/s
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w/s
/s
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WITHIN N WORDS OF ANOTHER TERM
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Burden /5 proof
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Use this if you believe your words have to be even closer together than just the same sentence. Useful when searching names, legal phrases, or terms of art.
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/n
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w/n
/n
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OR
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Burden /s proof OR proving
Burden /s proof proving (in Westlaw)
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Use this to present synonyms or alternative search terms.
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or
OR
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OR
or
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EXACT QUOTES
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“strict liability”
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Use this if you believe a phrase can only be expressed exactly as you write it. If in doubt, use the /s or /n connector!
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" "
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" "
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VARIATIONS OF DIFFERENT WORDS
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Liab! (covers liability and liable)
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Use this if you have a term that could take a number of variations.
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!
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!
*
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WILDCARD or UNIVERSAL CHARACTER
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Theat**
Int**net
Inform???
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Use this if there are a few different variations of a word. Many of the databases now do this automatically.
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*
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?
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THE WORD SHOULD SHOW UP A CERTAIN NUMBER OF TIMES
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ATLEAST5(pretext) AND age /s discrim!
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Use this if you know that a search term should show up many times. This knocks out the case that just mention something in passing.
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ATLEASTN([word or phrase])
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atleastn([word])
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