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Legal Research Skills

Level up your legal research

Key Australian legal databases

Subscription databases

Free databases

All legal databases

Keyword searching using search operators

When starting your research it's a good idea to get an overview of your topic or area of law by doing a keyword search.

Use Boolean and other advanced search operators to improve keyword search results. Below are the most common operators.

Tip: If you get the search operators wrong, the database probably won't alert you to the error; instead your search will find no results. If you are not sure, check the help section of individual databases to find the specific operators used.

Operator
Purpose
Example
Database
AND Searches for both terms on either side of the operator loss AND nuisance Lexis+, Westlaw, CCH, AustLII, Jade, InfoRMIT, HeinOnline, LawOne
OR Searches for either term on either side of the operator damages OR compensation Lexis+, Westlaw, CCH, AustLII, Jade, InfoRMIT, HeinOnline, LawOne

NOT

%

Excludes the term on the right-hand side of the operator

assault NOT battery


assault % battery

Lexis+, CCH, AustLII, Jade, InfoRMIT, HeinOnline, LawOne

Westlaw

*

!

Truncation - Searches for alternative term endings

legislat*

legislat!

CCH, AustLII, Jade, InfoRMIT, HeinOnline, LawOne

Lexis+, Westlaw

?

*

Wildcard - replaces 1 character, useful for spelling variations

wom?n
 

wom*n

Lexis+, CCH, AustLII, Jade, InfoRMIT, HeinOnline, LawOne

Westlaw

" " Searches for the term as an exact phrase "economic loss" Lexis+, Westlaw, CCH, AustLII, Jade, InfoRMIT, HeinOnline, LawOne

/n

w/n

Proximity - Searches for the first term within a nominated number of words from the second term

Use 5 for same phrase; 15-30 for same sentence; 50 for same paragraph

construction /5 contract

construction w/5 contract

Lexis+, Westlaw, LawOne

CCH, AustLII, Jade

" "~n

Proximity - Searches for the terms inside the double quote marks within a nominated number of words

Use 5 for same phrase; 15-30 for same sentence; 50 for same paragraph

"construction contract"~5 InfoRMIT, HeinOnline