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| Finding
Opinions Using Words and Phrases
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Search Strategies Using Keywords/Phrases
Begin your search with a very general term that
you know would be included in any judicial opinion
which might resolve your question.
For example, medical malpractice will find
judicial opinions containing the phrase medical
malpractice. No need for quotation marks.
our search engine sees the search as an adjacent
search by default.
medical malpractice and zoloft will find
judicial opinions that include at least one reference
to the phrase medical malpractice and the
word zoloft.
medical malpractice and (zoloft or prozac)
will find judicial opinions that include at least
one reference to the phrase medical malpractice
and at least one reference to either zoloft or
prozac. Note: The only time
you should use parenthesis when structuring a search
query is in grouping alternative search terms like
in the example above, just as one might in an algebra
equation.
employ* will find employ, employs, employed,
employee, employment
income tax w/5 fraud will find the word fraud within five words after the phrase income tax.
You can substitute any number after w/. Within searches can
lead to arbitrary results, however. You should use
this search only when you are reasonably confident
that the second term will appear within the chosen
number of words after the first term. If you ask
for one term within ten words of another, what happens
if the opinion on point includes the second term
eleven words after from the first term? You
miss the opinion. So,if you are not
sure as to the distance between your search terms,
it's best to use the and connector as described
above.
If you want to exclude words or phrases enter, for
example:
bank fraud and loan application not theft
and your list of results will not include judicial
opinions that contain the word theft.
If you are not getting the results you feel you
should be getting, submit a request to TheLaw.net
Virtual
Assistant and we will assist you in structuring
a more effective query. |
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