Searching on Westlaw Australia - Legal Solutions · 2011-12-11 · WESTLAW Searching on Westlaw Australia 1 SEARCHING ON WESTLAW AUSTRALIA Natural Language Search - Natural Language

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Searching on Westlaw Australia

1 SEARCHING ON WESTLAW AUSTRALIA

Natural Language Search

- Natural Language enables you to use plain English to retrieve relevant documents. This may include statements, questions or a collection of terms. - Natural Language is available in most Westlaw Australia databases and is excluded from Dialog Corporation databases. - Retrieved information is ranked according to concentration of the terms entered. More unique terms are given a higher relevance and as a default, 100 documents will be retrieved. Documents of higher relevance are ranked at the top of the result list.

Method

1. Define your factual and legal issue(s).2. Find a relevant database by using the Directory or by entering the database identifier.3. Click on Natural Language hyper text link above the Search Query Box (if Natural Language is bold black then you are already using the Natural Language query).4. Type the description of your issue in the text box.5. Click Search.

Rerun a recent searchSelect a search from the

Recent Queries drop-down list and click Search.

Use the online thesaurus to select related concepts. Click

Thesaurus after you type your description.

Add Date Restriction

Click on arrow to add a date

restriction

To specify which concepts in your description must be

included in or excluded from retrieved documents, click

Control Concepts.

Add Other RestrictionsClick on arrow to add a fields

restriction, fields searching is limited in Natural Language and varies from

database to database

Help Centre

Search Screen

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Search a recent databaseSelect a recent database

and click Update Database Selection

Add or Delete a DatabaseAdd additional databases

with a comma to a maximum of 10, Change the database

or delete a database

Search a favourite databaseSelect a favourite database and

click Update Database Selection

Change Database Screen

Search Screen

2 3 SEARCHING ON WESTLAW AUSTRALIA

Terms and Connectors

- Terms and Connectors enables you to enter a search query which consists of key terms from your issue, and connectors specifying the relationship between those terms. For example, you can specify that your terms appear in the same sentence or paragraph.- Terms and Connectors is available for all Westlaw Australia databases.- Retrieved information for case law is ranked according to court hierarchy and then reverse chronological date order. Other databases are ranked by reverse chronological date order (journals), numerical order, or alphabetical order. The quantity of retrieved documents can be up to 10,000 documents.

Method

1. Define your factual and legal issue(s).2. Find a relevant database by using the Directory or by entering the database identifier.3. Click on the Terms and Connectors hyper text link above the search query box (if Terms and Connectors is bold black then you are already using the Terms and Connectors query).4. From your issue description, identify the key and unique terms only. 5. Remove common or ‘stop words’ eg ‘the’, ‘of’, ‘your’.6. Select Connectors to extend or restrict your search and to grammatically connect your terms.7. Select Field Restrictions to narrow your search to particular fields of a document (optional).8. Type your query in the text box and click Search.

Connectors/Expanders reference list

Examples of how to use connectors/expanders

New Double-click MenusDouble click on the connector, field or date restriction to add

to your query

Connectors/Expanders Menu

Fields TemplateConstruct your search by using the fields’ template

Search Screen

Fields Restrictions

Menu

Dates TemplateAdd a date

restriction by using the dates template

Date Restrictions

Menu

Type the following search: order /p twin! /p surg! /p separ!


Searching Databases

FORMATTING A TERMS AND CONNECTORS QUERY

Searching for Compound Words

A compound word may appear as one word, as a hyphenated word or as two separate words. If your search term is a compound word, use its hyphenated form to retrieve all variations. For example:

Type To retrieve

share-holder shareholder share-holder share holder

Search for Abbreviations

Abbreviations may appear with or without periods or spaces. To retrieve the various forms of an abbreviation, enter it with periods and without spaces. For example:

Type To retrieve

r.s.c. r.s.c. r.s.c. rsc r s c

Using the Root Expander

The root expander (!) is used to retrieve words with variant endings. The root expander must always be placed at the end of a term. For example:

Type To retrieve

contribut! contributed contributor contributing contribution contributory

Note: Plurals and possessive forms are automatically retrieved without a root expander.

Using the Universal Character

The universal character (*) is used to represent once variable character. You can place the universal character anywhere in a term except at the beginning. For example:

Type To retrieve

gr*w grew grow

Note: When you place the universal character at the end of a term, you specify the maximum length of that term.

Using Connectors

Use connectors to specify the relationships that should exist between search terms in your retrieved documents. For example:

Type To Search for documents that contain

& (and) Both terms

a space (or) Either search term or both

/s Terms in the same sentence

/p Terms in the same paragraph

/n Terms within n terms of each other (where n is a number)

+n The first term preceding the second by n terms (where n is a number)

+p The first term preceding the second within the same paragraph

+s The first term preceding the second within the same sentence

“” Terms appearing in the same order as in the quotation marks

Type To exclude documents that contain

% (but not) Search terms following the percent symbol


Fields

Documents on Westlaw Australia are divided into searchable components called fields. Each field contains a specific type of information. Rather than searching the entire document, you can restrict your search to one or more fields. Doing so saves searching and browsing time and makes your search more efficient.

To restrict your Terms and Connectors search to a specific field, type the field name or abbreviation followed by your search terms enclosed in parentheses.

The following pages contain examples of commonly used fields in:

- Australian Statutes- Australian Cases- United Kingdom Statutes- United Kingdom Cases- United States Statutes- United States Cases.


COMMONLY USED FIELDS IN AUSTRALIAN STATUTESFor example, to retrieve Section 7A of the Tradesman’s Rights Regulations Act 1946 use the Title (ti) and the Caption fields (ca): ti,ca(“tradesmen’s rights” & “7A”)

Jurisdiction (jur)

Title (ti)

Section Number Name (ca)

Currency (cu)

Text (te)

Historical Notes (hn)

Preliminary (p

r)

Citation (ci)


COMMONLY USED FIELDS IN AUSTRALIAN CASESFor example, to retrieve the Ex Parte Epeabaka case use the Title field (ti) ti(“ex parte epeabaka”)

Citation (ci)

Title (ti)

Court (co)

Keywords (kw)

Synopsis (sy)

Opi

nion

(o

p)

Preliminary (p

r)

Date (da)

Panel (pa)

Judge (ju)

Order (ord)

Representation (rep)

Footnotes (fn)


COMMONLY USED FIELDS IN UNITED KINGDOM STATUTES

Citation (ci)

Preliminary (pr)

Year (ye)

Caption (ca)

Text (te)

Legislative Footnote (lfn)

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COMMONLY USED FIELDS IN UNITED KINGDOM CASES

Citation (ci)

Title (ti)

Court (co)

Summary (su)

References-cited (rc)

Opi

nion

(o

p)

Preliminary (p

r)

Panel (pa)

Judge (ju)

Lead (le)

Separate-opinion (sop)

Notes (no),Prelim (pr)

Year (ye)

Descriptive-text (dt)

Representation (rep)


COMMONLY USED FIELDS IN UNITED STATES STATUTES

Caption (ca)

Text (te)

Credit (cr)

Historical Notes (hn)

Annotations (an)

References (re)


COMMONLY USED FIELDS IN UNITED STATES CASES

Preliminary (pr)

Title (ti)

Synopsis (su)

Opi

nion

(o

p)

Docket Number (dn)

Judge (ju)

Lead (le)

Concurring (con) and/or

Dissenting (dis)

Preliminary (pr)

Topic (to)

Citation (ci)

Synopsis (sy)

Attorney (at)

Headnote (he)

Words-Phrases (wp)

Dig

est

(di)

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For information on any aspect of Westlaw Australia including research assistance, contact us:

Phone: 1800 110 009

Email: [email protected]

visit westlaw.com.au