 PDF version
LexisNexis and Westlaw Compared Prepared by James Duggan, SIU Law Library — Spring 2005
| Functionality |
LexisNexis feature |
Westlaw feature |
Phrase Searching
(Terms & Connectors) |
"quote marks" not needed |
"quote marks" needed |
Phrase Searching
(Natural Language) |
Use "quote marks" as Mandatory Terms to force phrase; Use a comma if you don't want a phrase |
should use "quote marks" |
| Hyphens |
hyphenated word is seen as two words |
use hyphen to search for compound terms |
| OR |
must include OR (it is not implied); words not separated by "or" (or another connector) will be read as a phrase |
OR is implied by a space |
| Date Restriction |
available |
available |
| Search by Parts of Document (Natural Language) |
Go to Mandatory Terms and restrict Within a Segment |
Select Add Other Restrictions |
| Search by Parts of Document (Terms & Connectors) |
Select Restrict Search Using Document Segments |
Use Fields |
| Universal Character (W/L) / Wildcards (L/N) |
wom*n
automatically retrieves women and woman |
wom*n
automatically retrieves women and woman |
| Root Expander (W/L) / Wildcards (L/N) |
acqui! |
acqui! |
| Plurals |
Use singular to find most plurals
Singular won't find words ending in -us, -is, or irregular words (child/children) |
Use singular to find plurals for all regular and most irregular terms; in doubt, use a * or ! |
| Viewing Results |
Cite, KWIC , Full, Custom |
Results List; Term & Doc arrows; in N/L can browse by Best Term |
| Narrowing Results |
Use FOCUS feature within retrieval set by adding terms & connectors |
Use LOCATE feature within retrieval set by adding terms & connectors |
PDF version of this research guide. 
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