Terms and Connectors Searching on Westlaw and Lexis'''

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Terms and Connectors Searching on Westlaw and
Lexis...

• ...is based on Boolean logic developed from the
  theories of 19th century mathematician George
  Boole. Youll often hear a Terms and Connectors
  search called a Boolean search.

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The Searchers Quandry

• Relevancy vs. Precision
• You want to retrieve every relevant document
• You want no irrelevant documents in your search
  results
• With professional searching, you will err on the
  side of relevancy

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HYPOTHETICAL

• For our purposes lets assume you want to
  retrieve all cases in a database that address
• A social hosts liability for injuries caused by
  intoxicated guests

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Steps in Constructing a SearchITAC
Method(Issue, Terms, Alternatives, Connectors)

• 1. Clearly state the ISSUE, using legal
  terminology when possible.
• (Stating your issue as a question is a good way
  to clarify your thoughts.)
• Is a social host liable for injuries caused by
  his intoxicated guests?

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Steps in Constructing a SearchITAC Method

• 2. Deconstruct the issue(s) into their
  constituent CONCEPTS. Translate those concepts
  into terms and phrases that represent the
  concepts. Select a few key TERMS representing
  each critical concept.
• (Using three to five key terms works well for
  most issues.)
• host injury intoxicated guest
• or
• host intoxicated guest

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Terms
host intoxicated guest hostess
drunk alcohol

• Get into the habit of placing your key words in a
  horizontal line in your mind, if not actually on
  paper.
• Under each key word add any word that is a
  reasonable alternative.
• You can probably think of additional
  alternatives for the exercise but right now,
  lets keep this exercise simple.

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Steps in Constructing a SearchITAC Method

• 3. Enter reasonable ALTERNATIVE terms for your
  key terms.
• (Use acronyms and antonyms as well as synonyms.)
• A term that may seem to have little relationship
  to a key term may be a reasonable alternative.
  The host of a party could be a corporation, an
  association, or a club.

host intoxicated
guest hostess drunk
attendee corporation
D.U.I invitee association
D.W.I. club sober
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Using the Thesaurus to Find Alternative Terms
The Thesaurus feature on Westlaw provides
synonyms and acronyms for the key words in your
query and lets you add them to your search. The
Thesaurus does not provide antonyms and other
irregular alternatives but you can add these
terms yourself.
Thesaurus
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Intoxicated
Alternatives
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Steps in Constructing a SearchITAC Method

• 4. Add appropriate CONNECTORS to specify the
  relationship you want each term and its
  alternatives to have to the other terms and their
  alternatives. Remember you can control the order
  of processing through the use of parentheses.
• (host or hostess) /p (intoxicated or drunk or
  alcohol) /s guest

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Order of Processing Connectors

• The general rule is that connectors are processed
  from narrowest to broadest /s is processed
  before /p.
• The order phrase, or, number, sentence,
  paragraph, and, but not
• The order , space (or), n, /n, s, /s,
  p, /p, ,
• Connectors of equal value are processed from
  left to right.

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Using Parentheses to Change Order of Processing
(Nesting)

• Terms within parentheses are processed first as a
  unit that can change the order of processing.
• dog /5 (yard /s bit!)
• First Westlaw looks for yard in the same sentence
  as bit!.
• Then that unit is found within five terms of dog.
• Useful when searching for alternative phrases
• products liability or (defect! /3 design!) /s
  windshield
• Useful when searching for multiple citations
• (15 5 1311) (42 5 1985)

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Combining Unrestricted Searches and Field Searches

• Many searches are a combination of unrestricted
  or free-text searches (words can be found
  anywhere in the document) and field searches.
• dying declaration /p time or hour or minute or
  second or day /p admiss! inadmissible admit!
  ju(jackson)
• This search retrieves cases addressing a dying
  declaration and how long it can be asserted
  before death and be admissible according to Judge
  Jacksons previous decisions.

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Steps in Constructing a Terms and Connectors
Search the ITAC Method

• Issue and concepts are defined in legal
  terminology.
• Terms that are essential are selected.
• Alternative terms that are reasonable are
  selected.
• Connectors that connect the terms in reasonable
  relationships are added.

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Select a Database

• Identify a Database likely to contain the
  information you need
• Database selection is based on
• Jurisdiction
• Federal or State
• Area of Law
• Cost
• Smaller is less expensive than larger
• Parameters of contract
• The art of searching lies in understanding how
  your issue is likely to be expressed in the
  documents contained within the database

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Search Techniques The Process

• Determine the exact contents of that database
• Coverage, Scope
• Type of Documents (Cases, Statutes, Text, etc.)
• Structure of Records (Fields)
• Accuracy (Provenance)
• Currency
• Beginning and ending dates of coverage

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Your Turn

• Your client is the mother of Joseph Peterson, a
  man currently residing in a military prison at
  Fort Hood, Texas. He is charged with murdering
  his wife, an active duty officer with the United
  States Army, stationed, before her death, at Fort
  Hood. The Petersons lived on base and the
  murder is alleged to have occurred within their
  home. Your client is concerned that the
  military will try to exert jurisdiction over the
  crime and seek to prosecute Mr. Peterson in a
  military court, although he is civilian whose
  status is that of military dependent. Because
  procedural safeguards in courts-martial are not
  as favorable to criminal defendants, Mrs.
  Peterson would like to have her sons case
  transferred to the civilian court system.