Boolean Operators (Some databases may refer to them as connectors) are used between search terms to make your searches more powerful. Different databases have different ways of expressing the operators, but they all offer the same functions.The boolean operators are not case sensitive.
The AND operator is used to return results that include both search terms. e.g. Taxation AND Australia.
The OR operator is used to return results that include either or both search terms. e.g. Solicitor OR Lawyer.
The NOT Operators is used to exclude a search term. e.g. Trust NOT Charitable.
|
Thomson Reuters Westlaw |
LexisNexis Int. | LexisNexis AU |
Westlaw AU and UK |
Hein Online | AustLII | Informit | Best Case | CCH | ICLR | |
| And | &, AND | AND | AND | AND, & (or a space) | AND, && | AND, &, &&, + | AND | &, AND | AND | AND |
| Or | single space | OR | OR | OR | OR | OR, |, ||, comma | OR | OR, | | OR | OR |
| Not | % | AND NOT | AND NOT | % | NOT, !, - | NOT | NOT | ^, NOT | NOT | NOT |
Other Operators (Symbols) can also be used in your searches. Different databases use different symbols, but the functionality is the same, note that the examples below use the most common symbol as an example.
The wildcard symbol replaces a single character in a word this can be useful if there are US or British spellings of a word such as organization / organisation. In this example you could search for organi?ation and return results with either spelling.
Truncation or word stemming can be used to search for a portion of a word with a variant ending. If you searched for bank* you would return results that included bankers, banking, bankrupt and any other word that started with the letters before the truncation symbol.
To search for an exact phrase, surround your phrase with quotation marks, this will only return results that contain the exact words in the same order
A proximity search alllows you to search for words within a specified range. In the examples below n stands for the number of words. For example if you searched for jury W/10 trial, you would only get results that contained both words within 10 words of each other. The maximum number of words which can be searched in a proximity search varies between databases.
|
Thomson Reuters Westlaw |
LexisNexis Int. | LexisNexis AU |
Westlaw AU and UK |
Hein Online | AustLII | Informit | Best Case | CCH | ICLR | |
| Wildcard | * | ? | * | * | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Truncation | ! | ! | ! | ! | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Phrase | " " | Default, " " | Default, " " | " " | " " | " " | " " | " " | " " | " " |
| Proximity | /n | W/n | W/n | /n | ~n | W/n | %n | /n | W/n | "term 1 term 2"@n |
Round brackets may be included to indicate the sequence in which the search should be executed. e.g. the search "Ethics and (Solicitor OR Lawyer) AND Australia" will search first for the terms in brackets, and then the other terms.
Some databases automatically search for plurals of a term, if you are unsure you can always use the truncation symbol to search for plurals. For more detailed instruction please refer to the online help available in each database.
