Creating natural language or terms & connectors searches

Lexis Advance Pacific supports both natural language and terms & connectors searches and automatically determines which type of search to run, based on the search terms you enter. A natural language search enables you to enter search terms as a question using the words, phrases, citations, and syntax you would use if asking another person about the information you are seeking. By contrast, a terms & connectors search consists of multiple words, phrases, or citations connected to each other by special operational terms called connectors. The connectors identify the relationships that must exist between those terms in order to produce relevant research results. You can enter search terms & connectors directly into the search box, or you can select the Search: [filters] button at the right edge of the search box, select Advanced Search, and use the form that appears to enter the terms and connectors. For more information, see What is natural language vs. terms & connectors searching?, Understanding terms & connectors searches, and Understanding the Lexis Advance^® Pacific search capabilities.

Finding specific phrases

Lexis Advance Pacific automatically interprets many common legal phrases, such as "limited liability partnership" and "summary judgment", as phrases, instead of as individual search terms. If you want to be sure a phrase you are searching for is interpreted as a phrase, however, you can enclose it in quotation marks.

Finding variations of words and names

To make your search terms shorter and simpler, you can use wildcard characters in the search box to find variations of words and names. For more information, see Using * and ! to find variations at the end of root words and Using ? to find variations within words.

Using the suggested terms feature

As you enter search terms, Lexis Advance Pacific automatically displays possible search entries containing the characters you are typing. If you see the search entry you want, you can save time by selecting it from the displayed list. It can also help you avoid typos.

Limiting searches to specific jurisdictions, content types, legal topics, and publications

You can select the Search: [filters] button at the right edge of the search box to display options that enable you to limit searches to specific jurisdictions and content types. For more information, see How do I limit my search to specific jurisdictions or content types?

You can also select the Search: [filters] button to limit searches to legal topics at the highest level of the Lexis Advance Pacific legal topic hierarchy. Or, you can select the Browse button at the top of the page to limit searches to topics at lower levels of the topic hierarchy. For more information, see How do I limit my search to specific legal topics?

Finally, you can select the Browse button at the top of the page to limit searches to specific publications. For more information, see see How do I limit my search to specific publications?

Using the Recent & Favourites list

Each time you select one or more search filters and generate a set of results, Lexis Advance Pacific stores the filters in the Recent & Favourites list. This enables you to retrieve the filters for use in later searches. For more information on the Recent & Favourites list, see What are recent & favourites?