QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
How to search with Boolean Terms
and Connectors
On Thomson Reuters Westlaw™, you can search for documents by either typing a Boolean Terms and
Connectors query or typing a plain language query in the search bar at the top of any page. Westlaw
recognizes whichever search format you use.
Searching with Terms and Connectors
When you type a query in the search bar at the top of the page, special rules govern which searches are
processed as Boolean Terms and Connectors searches. A search is processed as a terms and connectors
search if it includes a grammatical, numerical, or BUT NOT connector; a root expander, phrase in quotation
marks, a universal character; or a Field restriction.
A search is processed as a plain language search if it includes only AND or OR connectors, e.g., fraudulent &
contract. To process it as a terms and connectors search, include one of the connectors listed above. Or, use
the Advanced Search page. Click Advanced next to the search bar to access the Advanced Search page.
Using Terms and Connectors on Westlaw
The terms and connectors search method allows you to enter a query that consists of key terms from your issue
and connectors specifying the relationship between those terms. For example, you can specify that your terms
appear in the same sentence (/s) or the same paragraph (/p). Type your query in the search bar at the top of the
home page, change the jurisdiction if necessary, and hit Enter or click Search.
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDEHow to search with Boolean Terms and Connectors
‘And’ and ‘Or’
When you run a plain language search using descriptive terms, WestSearch®, the legal search engine that
powers Westlaw, accounts for language variety and returns relevant documents even if you used different
search terms. Because researchers use common connectors in plain language searches, using ampersands
(&) and spaces (OR) without connectors or elds are considered part of a descriptive terms search.
Use Advanced Search to run a terms and connectors search using these connectors, AND or OR, without
other connectors, expanders, or document elds. Or, if you run a plain language search, using WestSearch,
you may use the Search Within lter in your results to narrow your results to those documents with a specic
term or phrase. The Search Within lter defaults to terms and connectors.
AND (&)
To search for two or more terms that must appear anywhere in the document use and (&). For example, type
narcotics & warrant to retrieve results that include both terms in the same document. Keep in mind that
when you use the & connector, terms may appear on different pages.
OR (OR)
To search for alternative terms, use the or connector, which is represented by a space. For example, type
attorney lawyer counsel to retrieve documents that contain at least one of these terms.
Choosing Search Terms
To run a terms and connectors search, choose terms signicant to your issue. Consider the various forms
the search terms might take. For example, when you search the term liable, you may also want to search for
liability.
ROOT EXPANDER (!)
To search for words with multiple endings, use the root expander (!) at the end of the root of the word. For
example, type object! to retrieve object, objected, objection, and objecting.
UNIVERSAL CHARACTER (*)
To search words with variable characters, use the universal character (*). For example, type withdr*w to
retrieve withdraw and withdrew.
SEARCH EXACTLY AS TYPED (#)
To search for a word exactly as you typed it, use the pound symbol (#) at the beginning of the word. For
example, type #damage to retrieve damage but not damages. The pound symbol will turn off plurals and
equivalents.
PHRASE (“ ”)
To search for a phrase, use quotation marks (“ ”). For example, type “res ipsa loquitur” to retrieve the terms
as a phrase.
Choosing Connectors
In addition to choosing terms for your query, you must also choose proximity connectors to specify the
relationships between your search terms.
GRAMMATICAL CONNECTORS
/p the search terms must appear in the same paragraph (hearsay /p utterance)
+p the rst search term must precede the second term in the same paragraph (exception +p non-liability)
/s the search terms must appear in the same sentence (design /s defect)
+s the rst search term must precede the second term in the same sentence (attorney +s fee)
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDEHow to search with Boolean Terms and Connectors
NUMERICAL CONNECTORS
/n the search terms must appear within n terms of each other, where n is a number from 1 to 255
(personal /3 jurisdiction)
+n the rst search term must precede the second term by n terms, where n is a number from 1 to 255
(capital +3 gain)
BUT NOT CONNECTOR (%)
You can exclude documents that contain certain terms by using the BUT NOT connector (%) at the very
end of your search. Westlaw excludes everything that follows the BUT NOT connector in your search. For
example, the query tax taxation /s income % investment retrieves any document that contains the terms tax
or taxation in the same sentence as income, but excludes documents where investment appears.
ORDER OF BOOLEAN TERMS AND CONNECTORS PROCESSING
Westlaw processes the connectors in your query in the following order:
“ “, space (OR), +n, /n, +s, /s, +p, /p, &, %
The order in which connectors are processed affects what a query will retrieve. For example, suppose you
want to retrieve cases containing the term frisk or the phrase search and seizure. The query frisk! search! /3
seiz! will not retrieve all of the desired documents because the OR relationship between frisk! and search!
is processed rst. This query requires that either frisk! or search! appear within three terms of seiz!; in other
words, this query instructs Westlaw to search for these two alternative sets: documents with frisk! /3 seiz! or
documents with search! /3 seiz!. To search for search! /3 seiz! rst, change the order in which the connectors
are processed.
USING PARENTHESES IN BOOLEAN TERMS AND CONNECTORS PROCESSING
You can use parentheses to change the order in which Westlaw processes the connectors in your query.
When you place terms and connectors within parenthesis, those connectors are processed rst. For example,
when parentheses are used in the query frisk! (search! /3 seiz!), search /3 seiz! is processed rst. This query
instructs Westlaw to search for these two alternative sets: documents with frisk! or documents with search!
/3 seiz!.
Changing the order of processing is also useful when searching for two citations as alternatives.
For example, if you are searching for cases that cite either 15 U.S.C.A. § 1311 or 42 U.S.C.A. § 1985, you can
type the query (15 +5 1311) (42 +5 1985).
Using Field Restrictions
Documents on Westlaw are composed of several parts called elds. For example, in case law documents,
the names of the parties, the name of the judge, and the names of the attorneys are each contained in
a separate eld. Other elds contain exclusive editorial enhancements, such as the synopsis eld, which
contains the summary of a case, and the digest eld, which contains the headnotes in a case. Rather than
searching entire documents, use these elds to search for terms in specic parts of a document.
NOTE: Fields are content sensitive and vary by type of content (e.g., elds in cases differ from elds in statutes).
Content-specic, commonly used elds are listed on the Advanced Search page.
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDEHow to search with Boolean Terms and Connectors
Using the Advanced Search Page
You may want to use the Fields on the Advanced Search page to search for cases with a specic legal issue
in the Headnotes, before a particular judge, and within a particular date range. To search content using the
Advanced Search page, complete these steps:
1. Click Advanced below the search bar at the top of any page.
2. At the Advanced Search page, type your terms in the appropriate text boxes.
3. Click the arrow under Jurisdiction if you want to change the jurisdiction.
4. Click Search.
While viewing the search result, you can edit your query in the Search box at the top of the page or by
clicking Advanced again. Imagine you need to locate cases that interpret or dene the phrase due diligence.
If you searched cases for the phrase “due diligence”, you’d retrieve thousands of documents that use the
legal phrase, but don’t dene what it means in that jurisdiction. If you enter due diligence in the Words
& Phrases eld on the Advanced Search page, you’ll retrieve only those cases that interpret or dene the
phrase. A more relevant result that gets you to your answer faster.
USING THE FIND DOCUMENTS THAT HAVE SECTION
You can use the text boxes at the top of the page under Find documents that have to do any of the following:
• If you want all of the terms included in your retrieved documents, type them in the All of these terms text
box. For example, type narcotics warrant to retrieve documents that contain both terms.
• If you want any of the terms included in your retrieved documents, type them in the Any of these terms
text box. For example, type attorney lawyer counsel to retrieve documents that contain at least one of
these terms.
• If you want an exact phrase included in your retrieved documents, type it in the This exact phrase text
box. For example, type res ipsa loquitur to retrieve documents that contain the phrase res ipsa loquitur.
• If you want to exclude documents that contain certain terms, type the terms in the These terms text box
under the “Exclude documents” section.
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDEHow to search with Boolean Terms and Connectors
© 2019 Thomson Reuters TR949920/12-19
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USING THE DOCUMENTS FIELD SECTION
The Advanced Search page enables you to easily restrict your search to specic document elds. The elds
displayed at an Advanced Search page vary by content category. For example, if you click Advanced at the
home page, the Advanced Search page displays a date, citation, and name/title eld. If you click Advanced
at the Cases page, the Advanced Search: Cases page displays elds such as party name, synopsis, digest,
judge, and attorney. If you click Advanced at the Statutes and Court Rules page, the Advanced Search:
Statutes and Court Rules page displays elds such as caption, statutory text, and annotations.
You can use multiple elds in a search.
