Library guides: Legal Research Skills: Databases and search operators

Key Australian legal databases

Subscription databases

Westlaw Australia (formerly Westlaw AU This link opens in a new window
Provides Australian case law (including the case citator KeyCite), legislation, journals and commentary (including the encyclopaedia 'Laws of Australia').
Lexis+ (Australia) This link opens in a new window
To be used exclusively for academic research only.

Provides Australian case law (including the CaseBase case citator), legislation, journals, commentary (including a comprehensive legal dictionary & the Halsbury's legal encyclopaedia), and practical guidance modules. Some international content (NZ, UK, US, Canada & Hong Kong) is also included.

View the Lexis+ Introductory Guide or Help pages to get started.
CCH iKnowConnect This link opens in a new window
Provides subject-specific Australian commentary, legislation and case law, with particular strengths in commercial, competition & consumer, contract, corporations, employment, family, IP, commercial property, taxation, and torts law.
To learn more about using CCH iKnowConnect, attend free live webinars run by CCH staff or read the training guides.
Note: SCU does not currently have access to the personalisation features such as saving favourites, shortcuts, email alerts, folders or search history.

Free databases

AustLII This link opens in a new window
Freely available Australian database containing full-text legislation & case law. Also includes journals, law reform papers and and subject specific collections.

Jade
Produced by BarNet, Jade allows you to search, annotate & share Australian case law for free. Jade Professional provides additional features & is available to students at no charge. Email editors@jade.io from your student email address with current degree & expected year of completion.
ATO Legal Database
Freely available database published by the Australian Taxation Office. Access ATO documents such as Rulings & Determinations; as well as tax-related legislation & case law.

All legal databases

Law databases
A-Z list of all databases relevant to law at SCU. Includes multidisciplinary databases which may be useful for literature reviews.

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

Legal Research Skills

Key Australian legal databases

Subscription databases

Free databases

All legal databases

Keyword searching using search operators

Operator

Purpose

Example

Database