Law 397: Advanced Legal Research NAME: ________David Achvan______

Assignment #2: Intro & Online Searching (10 points)

Due: September 9, 2021 by 11:59 p.m. via CCLE

Instructions: Read and respond to the following prompts. Type your answers directly into this document.

I. Understanding Searching Strategies

A. Why do you need to know how to craft and run Natural Language AND Terms & Connectors search
expressions? When would you use one type or the other?
The Natural Language search method allows you to use plain English to retrieve relevant documents.
T&C allows you to refine the search to arrive at mire detailed results. Youd use the former if you want
broader results; the latter for more detailed results.

B. What are the benefits of searching in a particular database on Westlaw and on Lexis Advance (for
example, the California Statutes & Court Rules database or the New York Times database) rather than
using the magic search bar to search the entire platform?
Westlaw and Lexis tend to organize their databases in a way that makes looking up information more
organized. For example, when looking up the CFR, westlaw offers an alphabetic presentation of topics and
their corresponding federal codes.

C. Go to the Cases database on either Westlaw or Lexis. Click on the link to the Advanced Search
template. List at least five case-specific fields (Westlaw) or case-specific segments (Lexis) that are
available when searching cases.
1. Federal cases by court
2. Federal cases by circuit
3. Cases by state
4. Cases- other US jurisdictions
5. Cases by Topic

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 II. Improving Search Expressions
Read the following research prompts and search strings. Identify ways to refine each search string into a
Terms & Connectors search expression that could be run on Westlaw or Lexis (i.e. by using the tools discussed
for expressing terms and using connectors). Write out your new Terms & Connectors search expression(s),
incorporating all the revisions you think are helpful. (You do not need to run the searches.)

A. You want to learn more about liability issues raised by self-driving cars that get into accidents. You
want articles on this topic.

Search string: autonomous car liable crash

"autonomous car" and liab! and (crash or accident or wreck)

You can also refine the search with /s or /p to find the terms in the same sentence or paragraph

B. You have been asked to give a “know your rights” presentation to students enrolled in the local high
school’s journalism class. They want to start up a monthly newspaper by and for students. The
students are interested learning about the free speech rights of high school students who publish a
newspaper. They want materials on the topic.

Search string: free speech high school student newspaper

(Note: You will use the Terms & Connectors search expression you write in a later part of the
assignment, so you may want to make a note of it.)
"free speech" and (high school or student) and newspaper
You can also refine the search with /s or /p to find the terms in the same sentence or paragraph

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 III. Crafting Search Expressions
Read the following research prompts. For each prompt, write out at least one Natural Language search
expression AND at least one Terms & Connectors search expression that you could run to identify relevant
materials. You may presume that you would run these searches on Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg Law. (You do
not need to run the searches.)

A. You are writing a paper about racism and its effects on the births of African-American babies. You want
to find relevant news articles. (For example: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/childbirth-dangers-
black-mothers-study_l_5e189b30c5b6da971d14dc40)
Natural Language: How does racism affect the births of African-American babies?

T&C: (racism /s birth!) and African American

You can also replace the “and” with s/

B. Your client was called homophobic slurs at her former job and she believes she was fired because she
is gay. Is discrimination based on sexual orientation permissible at work?
NL: workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation

T&C: “work! Discrimination” and “sexual orientation”

C. Your friend’s child has enlisted your help in making a presentation to their parents about getting a pet.
You want to find articles that say having a pet makes people happy.
NL: Does having a pet makes people happy

T&C: pet! and people and happ!

May want to employ /s between the terms to narrow it down based on number of results

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 IV. Selecting Databases and Running Searches
Work with the search expressions regarding the free speech rights of high school students who publish a
newspaper.

A. On Westlaw, enter the Natural Language search expression you were given [free speech high school
student newspaper] into the main search bar and run the search across the whole platform. Filter to
Secondary Sources  Publication Type: Law Reviews & Journals. How many results do you get?
1,956 if I copy and paste the above

B. Go to Westlaw’s Law Reviews & Journals database. Browse to find the database or slow type the
database identifier – JLR – into the main search bar and select the database from the drop down (you
may have to select Secondary Sources on the left side to see the “Content Types”). Run the Natural
Language search expression in the Law Reviews & Journals database. How many results do you get?
If I go to: Home > Secondary Sources > Law Reviews & Journals > National Law Reviews & Journals, I arrive
at the Journal of Law and Religion (the only journal I found fitting the acronym) and it gives me 10 results

Natural language results are 767 under “law reviews”

C. On Lexis, enter your Terms & Connectors search expression (from part II.B of this assignment) into the
main search bar and run the search across the whole platform. Filter to Secondary Sources  Law
Reviews & Journals. How many results do you get?
I got 1 result regarding false advertising. Search is too narrow

D. Go to Lexis’s Law Reviews & Journals database by browsing or by selecting the database from the main
browse box. Run your Terms & Connectors search expression (from part II.B of this assignment) in the
Law Reviews & Journals database. How many results do you get?
12,908