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Terms & Connectors

One of the two types of searching available on Lexis and Westlaw; another name for Boolean searching. Terms & connectors searching allows a user to specify the exact location of key words or phrases in a document.

These are the basic operators that work for both Lexis and Westlaw:

• /s - words must be in the same sentence.
• /p - worlds must be in the same paragraph.
• /[n] - words must be within "n" words of each other, where "n" is a number of words specified by the user.
• and - both words must be in the same document.
• or - either word must be in the document (usually used for synonyms).

Searching by the terms & connectors method is generally considered more accurate than searching by the natural language method.