Guide to LexisNexis Academic

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LexisNexis is a collection of mostly full-text materials covering general news topics, company research, industry analysis, government and politics, the law, and more.

Choosing a Search Category

Search categories include "News," "Business," "Legal Research," "Medical," and "Reference." Select the category that broadly defines the kind of information to be found. After choosing a search category, select the subcategory that most closely relates to your topic such as "Today's News," or "Business News."

Typing Your Search

Keyword search is used to search the headline and lead paragraph(s) of articles. Enter words or phrases that describe your topic.

Additional Terms can be used to narrow a search by searching the full-text of articles.

Source determines the group of selected publications that will be searched, such as "All Magazines," "Major Newspapers," or "Banking News." The type of source categories available will depend on the search category and subcategory chosen.

Searching for Specific Information
The Guided Search Options screen allows a specific part of articles to be searched, such as the "Headline," "Author," or "Caption." Use the drop-down list to select the desired part of an article to be searched.

Searching a Specific Publication
To see if a specific publication is included in the database, click the "Sources" button on the LexisNexis toolbar at the top of the Web page or the "Source List" button on the search screen to view the list of sources included in the database.

Searching a Specific Time Period
Select a predefined date range from the drop-down list or enter a date range. Examples of supported formats are: 07/24/97; Jul 24, 1997; 07/97; July, 1997; and 1997. To find documents from a specific day, select the custom date range option and type the same date in the "From" and "To" boxes. To find documents published on or after a specific day, type that date in the "From" box and leave the "To" box blank. To find documents published on or before a specific date, enter that date in the "To" box and leave the "From" box blank.

Viewing Results

Document List: A list of citations matching the search terms will be displayed. Click on the link for each item to see complete information.

Expanded List: View the list of citations with more of the article shown.

KWIC: View the parts of each article that have the "Key Words In Context."

Full: View the full-text of each item.

Emailing Documents

Full display: Select "Email" from the toolbar near the top of theWeb page to email one complete item at a time. This is the only method that will include the full-text.

KWIC: Select "Email" from the toolbar near the top of theWeb page to email one item at a time showing only the key words in context. To email the full-text of an item use the Full display method.

Document List or Expanded List display: Use the check-mark boxes to select specific items, select "Email" from the toolbar near the top of theWeb page, enter your complete email address and a note then click the "Email" button. Only the brief citation or expanded citation will be emailed. To email the full-text of an item use the Full display method.

Printing and Saving Documents

The "Print/Save"option reformats items for printing or downloading. It is possible to just view the items to print or download and select the "Print" option from yourWeb browser to print, or select "Save As" from the FILE menu of theWeb browser to download items. If you select "Save As" a dialog box will appear. In the "File Name" area type "a:\filename.txt" for example, "a:\china.txt" Make sure the "Save as Type" is either "Plain Text" or "All Files."

Edit Search or Focus Search

To modify the search terms used, select "Edit Search" from the toolbar near the top of the Web page. To find even more specific items, add another keyword to your search by choosing "Focus" from the toolbar near the top of theWeb page.

Enhanced Searching

Use connectors in your search request to be more specific.

AND -- narrows search results by retrieving items containing all search terms no matter how close or far apart. "bank and deregulate" finds both bank and deregulate anywhere in the same document.

AND NOT -- use this connector to exclude words from the items received. "jordan w/10 syria and not michael w/3 jordan" finds items containing jordan within ten words of syria, but not those containing michael jordan.

OR -- broadens search results by retrieving items that contain either term. "doctor or physician" finds documents with either doctor or physician.

W/n -- links search words. The letter n stands for a number from 1 to 255. W/n does not specify word order. "john W/3 doe" finds john within up to three words of doe. Use the W/n connector to search for a first and last name when you are unsure of a middle name.

W/p --identifies documents with search words in the same paragraph. "rule W/p sanction" finds rule within the same paragraph as sanction.

W/s -- identifies documents with search words in the same sentence. "sanction W/s frivolous" finds sanction within the same sentence as frivolous.

PRE/n -- identifies documents with both words and the first word must precede the second word by n words. Use the PRE/n connector when a different word order would change the meaning. "cable pre/2 television" finds cable television but not television cables.

Truncation
Use the * (asterisk) to replace one character. It can appear more than once in a word and can be used anywhere except as the first character. "wom*n" retrieves items containing women and woman.

Use the ! (exclamation mark) to replace one or more characters at the end of a word. For example, use "negligen!" to search for negligent, negligently, or negligence.

Assistance

For help using LexisNexis click the "Help" or "How Do I" button on the LexisNexis toolbar or ask for assistance at the Reference Desk.

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For further assistance, please contact the Miller Nichols Library Reference Desk: (816) 235-1534