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Westlaw Precision
Lexis+
Bloomberg Law
| Description | Westlaw | Lexis | Bloomberg | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
results with both terms |
&, and | and* | and | assault & battery (W), assault and battery (W, L, B) |
| results with either term | or, space b/t words | or** | or | assault or battery (W, L, B), assault battery (W) |
|
exclude term |
%, but not | and not | and not, but not | assault % battery (W), assault but not battery (W, B), assault and not battery (L, B) |
* The Lexis search algorithm will recognize certain search strings as phrases, rather than a search command. Thus 'assault and battery' is treated as a phrase in Lexis, rather than a command to search for results with both the words 'assault' and 'battery,' so you get results with 'assault and battery,' 'assault,' and 'battery.'
** The Lexis search algorithm will recognize a space between words as an 'or' only when no other connectors are used in the search; so 'tort and assault battery' would bring back different results than 'tort assault battery.'
| Description | Westlaw | Lexis | Bloomberg | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| within the same sentence | /s, w/s | w/sent, w/s, /s* | s/, /s, /sent | assault /s battery (W, L, B), assault w/s battery (W, L), assault w/sent battery (L, B), assault s/ battery (B) |
| within the same paragraph | /p, w/p | w/para, w/p, /p* | p/, /p, /para | assault /p battery, (W, L, B), assaulty w/p battery (W, L), assault w/para battery (L, B), assault p/ battery (B) |
| within n words | /n | near/n | /n, w/n | assault /5 battery (W, B), assault near/5 battery (L), assault w/5 battery (B) |
| within n words and in designated order | +n | pre/n | +n, pre/n | assault +7 battery (W, B), assault pre/5 battery (L, B) |
| phrase searching | within quotes | within quotes | within quotes, space between words | "collateral estoppel" (W, L, B), collateral estoppel (B) |
| grouping terms | within parentheses | within parentheses | within parantheses | (assault and battery) /s (dog and bite) |
| term frequency in results | atleastn | [doesn't support] | atln, atleastn | atleast5(assault) (W, B), atl5(assault) (B) |
* The sentence and paragraph parameters in Lexis are treated numerically. Thus, any of the sentence proximity commands are treated as near/15, and any of the paragraph proximity commands are treated as near/50.
| Description | Westlaw | Lexis | Bloomberg | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root expander | ! | !, * | ! | constitut! finds results with constitute, constituting, constituted, constitution, constitutions, constitutional, etc. (W, L, B); constitut* does the same (L) |
| single character variation | * | *, ? | * | wom*n brings back results with woman and women (W, L, B); wom?n does the same (L) |
| singular v. plural forms | searched automatically | regular plurals searched automatically | must check the "include word variations" box on search page | automatic (W, L*), check the box in B |
| hyphenated terms | searching as a hyphenated will automatically search any form | searching as a hyphenated will automatically search any form | must search both hyphenated and unhyphenated, connected by 'or' | wi-fi will automatically search for wi-fi and wifi (W, L), must search both in B ('wi-fi' or wifi') |
* Lexis automatically searches for plurals indicated by an -s (dogs, cats), but irregular plurals (children, women) have to be searched separately (ex: 'woman or women')
(Inspiration for these tables came from a research guide at Drake Law.)