This guide covers basic searching of periodical sources in Lexis-Nexis. For an in depth guide to Legal Research using Lexis-Nexis see the guide Legal Research on Lexis-Nexis Academic.

Access:

• From the Ely Library Homepage (http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu):
• In the Quick Links to Databases section, click on Lexis-Nexis Academic.

Search Options

When you click on Lexis-Nexis Academic you are brought immediately to the News section of the database, which provides the following options:

Quick News Search:

This search option is very limited and is not recommended. A very basic keyword search, it does not allow for the use of boolean operators (i.e. AND, OR, NOT), nor does it provide access to materials older than two years. A more flexible and powerful search is offered through the Guided News Search option described below.

Guided News Search:

Click on Guided News Search tab. The following search screen appears:

• Step One: Select a News Category from the list
. Selecting General News will allow for searching of Magazines and Journals in addition to other news sources.
• Step Two: Select a News Source. News Sources are grouped by format, i.e. Newspapers, Magazines, Transcripts, etc. Those sources available will depend on the category selected above. For a list of titles in a selected News Source click on Source List.
• Step Three: Enter Search Terms in the box. Search for terms across different fields by using the drop-down menu next to the search box. You may search for your terms in the Headline, Headline and Lead Paragraph, Full Text, Caption, or by Author. You may add terms using the extra search boxes and connect them using the boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and universal characters provided in the drop-down menu to the left of the search box. Connections can also be made manually within the search box. See Additional Searching Tips below for further information.
• Step Four: Select the Date Range. You may choose from the options available in the drop-down menu, or you may specify a specific range in the From and To boxes. Most date formats are supported: Examples: 07/24/97; Jul 24, 1997; 07/97; July 1997; 1997.
• Step Five: Search a Specific Publication Title (optional). If you are looking for an article from a specific source, enter that source in this box.
• Click on Search.

Result List

Those citations retrieved from your search are displayed in a format showing Source Title, Date, Volume #, Issue#, Pages, Article Title, and Author. Results are sorted by date, but may be resorted by relevance of your search terms using the Search by Relevance command at the top of the list.

To retrieve the full text of an article click on the highlighted source title.

Printing, Saving and Emailing

One you have retrieved the full text of a document you may print, save or email it.

To Print or Save:

• From the Full Display screen click on Print at the top of the document.
• Click on Display Document.
• To print the document, use your web browser's print function.
• To save the document, click on File, then select Save As.

• From the Full Display screen, click on Email at the top of the document.
• Enter the address to which you want the document sent.
• Add any notes or messages you would like in the box below the address.
• Click on Email.

Additional Searching Tips

• Adjacent words not separated by a logical connector such as AND or OR (tax free, dog bite, automobile accident, first class, etc.) are searched for as a phrase rather than as individual words -- you do not need to enclose them in quotation marks. If the phrase you want contains a logical connector, you can omit it  Example: heirs assigns finds heirs and assigns
• AND -- Links words or phrases that must both appear anywhere in the same document. Example: doctor and malpractice -- finds both doctor and malpractice anywhere in the same document.
• OR -- Links synonyms, alternative forms of expression, acronyms, and so on. Example: doctor or physician -- finds either doctor or physician.
• AND NOT -- Excludes documents that contain certain words or phrases. Use this connector with caution, because it can exclude relevant documents. Always use this connector at the end of your search. Example: doctor and not malpractice -- finds the word doctor anywhere in the document, but the system does not retrieve any documents that contain the word malpractice anywhere in the same document.
• W/n -- Links search words and phrases to create concepts. The letter n stands for a number from 1 to 255. W/n does not specify a word order. Example: doctor w/5 malpractice -- finds doctor within five or fewer words of malpractice, regardless of which word appears first.
• W/s -- Looks for documents with search words in the same sentence. Example: doctor w/s malpractice -- finds doctor in the same sentence as malpractice. NOTE: The W/s connector cannot be combined with the W/n connector.
• W/p -- Looks for documents with search words in the same paragraph. Example: doctor w/p malpractice -- finds doctor in the same paragraph as malpractice NOTE: The W/p connector cannot be combined with the W/n connector.
• PRE/n -- Requires both words to appear in the document with the first word preceding the second word by n words. Use this connector when a different word order would change the meaning. Example: southwest pre/2 air or airline -- finds Southwest Air or Southwest Airlines.

Page Maintained by Oliver Zeff
Last Updated August 23, 2006