Searching Westlaw International Quick Guide

Transcription

1 Searching Westlaw International Quick Guide Access Go to: The database is available on CBS campus and through remote access You need to accept the WestLaw "Academic User Agreement" before gaining access to the database contents. Click "Go". In Westlaw, click on first tab International Directory or menu Directory for an overview; Content Contains cases, legislation, treaties, law reviews (journals), patents and trademarks, news and more (e.g. statutes, regulations, legal practice materials) Almost any topic of law; Especially contents from common law countries (Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong), EU and United States Full-text available, coverage of databases (journals) varies. Databases Westlaw uses term databases (almost available) for: A journal or collection of databases (about 8.800) A database or collection of databases All databases have an identifier for easy access, e.g. PPLR for Public Procurement Law Review For an access to an overview of journals look below

2 Use the search box Find by Document when you know the citation to quickly find articles from bar reviews and journals, case law, statutes, regulations, legal practice materials, newspaper articles etc. Search a specific document by citation E.g. type PPLR 2014, 6, 249 to retrieve the article Government to Government contracts in EU defence procurement by Andreas Estrup Ippolito. PPLR is the identifier for Public Procurement Law Review, year 2014, vol. 6, p To find a citation abbreviation and format search for a database (e.g. a journal) and click the INFO-button. Publications List gives you a list of all the databases (journals, magazines, newspapers etc.) accessible by Westlaw. NB! Not all the databases have a citation format. By Title: Use Search for a database to find a database (e.g. a journal). You can search by the whole title (e.g. Public Procurement Law Review) or by identifier (PPLR). Use the INFObutton to find out coverage, citation abbreviation, format and more. Search for a database By Topic: Go to Directory in the menu and choose All databases. Here you can find the relevant databases to search in by region, country or topic. You can search into 10 databases at a time. For example chose All databases > Topical Materials > Antitrust & Trade Regulation By Document Type: Go to Directory in the menu and click International Directory on the left, select an area, country or region and select document type

3 Search with Terms & Connectors Search with Natural Language Search multiple databases Before you can search you have to select one or more databases. You can search by using Terms & Connectors or Natural Language. Terms & Connectors: Use dropdown menu Fields in a specific database to insert e.g. title TI() or author AU() and fill in the search words between the brackets. For example AU(arrowsmith). Use Connectors or Expanders to combine fields or search words (Note1 for more details): & - AND Space - OR.. - Phrase % - But not! - Root expander, e.g. For example, obey! retrieves obey, obeys, obeyed and obeying. * - Universal character Natural Language: Use Natural Language to form a question, e.g. is there a misuse of procurement in construction. Use the Thesaurus to find related terms. Add them with the + You can search more databases at a time. First find out what the identifiers are of the databases you want to search simultaneously Search for one of the databases by using Search for a database, then click Change databases (right hand side) and add database identifiers separated by commas. NB! You can select up to 10 databases at a time. In the selected database (journal) type the identifier or whole title between brackets e.g. (PPLR). Browse a Journal

4 Westlaw sorts search results by relevance or by data (descending). Search Results Refine you search with Edit search. You can also search within search result with Locate in result Related info tab gives you more information about the displayed document such as citing references. Tools (bottom, right side): here you can copy text with reference (Unfortunately it s not possible to export to Refworks). You can download and print an article, a case etc. by clicking in the right upper corner: Download Help Use the Westlaw Help Centre by clicking on HELP in the right upper corner.

5 Note 1: Using Connectors in Your Search Connectors are symbols you place between search terms to specify the relationship between them. You can also use the root expander and the universal character to ensure that your search retrieves different forms of your search terms. Connector Type this To retrieve AND & Search terms in the same document: narcotics & warrant OR (space) Either search term or both: car automobile Phrase " " Search terms appearing in the same order as in the quotation marks: "attractive nuisance" Grammatical Connectors /s Search terms in the same sentence: design /s defect /p Search terms in the same paragraph: hearsay /p utterance +s The first term preceding the second within the same sentence: palsgraf +s island +p The first term preceding the second within the same paragraph: ti(mikkelson +p mikkelson) Numerical Connectors /n Search terms within "n" terms of each other (where "n" is a number): person** /3 jurisdiction +n The first term preceding the second by "n" terms (where "n" is a number): BUT NOT % Documents not containing the term or terms following the % symbol: laminectomy % to(413) Notes: When you want to specify that the same term appears at least twice in a sentence or paragraph, use the +s or +p connector. For example, the query ti(mikkelson +p mikkelson) retrieves documents in which the name Mikkelson occurs twice in the title field. Use the % connector with caution; it may cause relevant documents to be excluded from your search result.

6 Using the Universal Character The universal character (*) represents one character. You can place the universal character within or at the end of a term. When you place the universal character within a term, it requires that a character appear in that position. For example, fea*t retrieves feast but not feat Using the Root Expander To retrieve words with variant endings, use the root expander (!). When you place an exclamation point (!) at the end of a root term, you retrieve all possible endings of that root. For example, obey! retrieves obey, obeys, obeyed and obeying.