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   From LexisNexis:

      Case law
      Developing a Search with Terms and Connectors, a more precise way to search.
           Select other topics in the left menu, like Natural Language.
      Select "Overview" under View Tutorials in the right hand menu for an excellent overview.

   Video from youtube has clear help with tips on searching.

   LexisNexis Orientation PowerPoint by D. Hunter

   Videos by L. Young


   Click on the Legal bar in LexisNexis Academic's top menu unless otherwise noted.


Get a Case by Case Name if sufficiently unique.  It is much better to use a citation.

   Select Federal & State Cases in right menu.
   It is better to click in the terms-and-connectors button.
   In the Citations Number box, type in the citation. 
   Use quotation marks around citation to keep the citation order exact.

   Citation examples:        968 s.w. 2d 53
                                         605 f.supp. 210
                                         25 f.3d 356
                                         313 b.r. 1 (must have dots for Bankruptcy Court)
                                         207 tenn. 102
                                         508 u.s. 333
                                         1999 u.s. lexis 15
                                         2004 tenn. lexis 834
                                         2002 tenn. crim. app. lexis 468
                                         2002 tenn. app. lexis 622

   CHANGE a citation from the hard copy Shepard's: 2002 TennApp [LX560] to search for the citation as: 
   2002 tenn. app. lexis 560.  Note capitalization does not matter, but dots and spacing do:

                157 f.3d 139 or 157 f 3d 139 works, but 157 f3d 139 will not work
                968 s.w. 2d 53 or 968 s.w.2d 53 works, but 968 sw2d 53 will not work

   Learn to download or e-mail.

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Downloading

   Place a formatted diskette and put in the A-drive or flash drive in proper drive.
   Click on "Download Document" icon which is on right.
   You can click in the "Show" area to change what you see.  Click download. 
       "KWIC" (key word in context) shows the search term with up to 25 words around it.
   The format is a Word document, unless you change it.
   After a few moments, a window appears.  Follow directions.

Emailing

   Click the "Email Documents" icon on the upper right.

Print/Saving

   Place a formatted diskette and put in the A-drive or flash drive in proper drive.
   Click on "Print Documents" icon which is on right.
   You can click in the "Show" area to change what you see.  Click print.
       "KWIC" (key word in context) shows the search term with up to 25 words around it.
   The format is a Word document, unless you change it.
   After a few moments, a window appears.  Follow directions.

   If the item to print is longer than our print limit (25 pages), then choose to download.
 
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Federal Case Law

   Select Federal & State Cases.
   It is more precise to search by terms and connectors.
   Type your search using connectors illustrated at the end of this page.

   Or look for a citation: In the Citations Number box, type in the citation. 
   Use quotation marks around citation to keep the citation order exact.
   Example: "508 u.s. 333" brings up the citation.

   Notice other sources can be selected, for example:

    U.S. Supreme Court Cases
       In the Sources drop down box and highlight U.S. Supreme Court Cases.

    U.S. Supreme Court Briefs
       Highlight U.S. Supreme Court Briefs.  Click the "i" for information.  Briefs are available from January 1979.


State Case Law: Click on Sources tab. Type Tennessee cases in the "Find a Source" box. 
   Look down the list and select the TN State Cases, Combined.  Click OK-Continue. 
   Put search terms in search box.

   Example: government w/5 immunity searches for immunity within 5 words of government.  The order
   of words does not matter, but would if the search had been immunity pre/5 government.

   If one searches in the previous six months using just government immunity and nothing is found,
   then separate the terms with connectors.  A search using government and immunity pulls up more cases.

   Under Sources, click Show options to search specific document sections.  This allows the search
   to be narrowed by sections, like cite.

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Federal Code

   Retrieve a citation by clicking on Federal & State Codes.  Under the Sources box, click Show options
   to search specific document sections. 
   In the section  drop down box highlight Cite.  Type your citation, and add to search. 
   Find citation: 5 uscs sec 5901.  Using the ! truncator will pull up more sections: 5 uscs sec 590!

   Retrieve other federal codes by clicking on the Sources tab.  Type federal code in the "Find a Source"
   box.

   Rules of Civil Procedure.  After doing the federal code search above, click on United States Code
   Service Federal Rules Annotated - Selected Criminal.   Click OK-Continue.  Citations may be
   searched by clicking on Show, which is under Select Sources.  At Section, select Cite.  Then type:
   Civ Proc R 61.  Click Add to Search.

 
Federal Regulations

   Select Federal & State Codes.  In the Sources drop down box, choose sources like Code
   of Federal Regulations or Federal Register.

   Another way to find regulations is to click the Sources tab.  Type federal register in the "Find a
   Source" box.  Click on federal register.  Click OK-Continue.  For example, to search the Federal
   Register by citation, click Show options to search specific document sections under the
   Select Sources box.  In the section drop down box highlight Cite.  Type your citation, and add to
   search.  Example, 69 fr 19161.  Note that the date may need to be changed.

   A CFR cite can be found by changing the source to Code of Federal Regulations.  A citation can
   be searched as in the previous paragraph.  Example, 7 cfr 2.60 and then change the drop down box
   from full text to cite.


State Codes

   Click on Sources tab. Type Tennessee Code in the "Find a Source" box.  Select the first title. 
   Click OK-Continue.  Put search terms in search box.  A basic search in the Tennessee Code
   Annotated for a no-compete clause must be rephrased, for instance, to noncompetition clause
   or noncompet! clause (using the ! truncator). 

   Retrieve a citation: Click Show options to search specific document sections under the Sources
   box.  In the section drop down box highlight Cite. Type your citation, and add to search.     
   Example for Tennessee Code Annotated: 63-6-603.

   Using a truncator: 66-5-20! will pull up all citations from 200 and after.

   Court Rules.  Click the Sources tab.  Type Tennessee court rules in the "Find a Source"
   box.  Click on TN-Tennessee State & Federal Court Rules.  Click OK-Continue.  To find the
   Canon 9 of the Tennessee Supreme Court rules, Click Show options to search specific document sections
   under the Sources box.  In the section drop down box highlight Cite. Type your canon 9, and add to search.  

   Rules of Civil Procedure.  Follow above paragraph for searching Tennessee court rules. 
   To find Rule 8.02, click Show  options to search specific document sections under the Sources box. 
   In the section drop down box highlight Cite. Type your 8.02, and add to search.  Look for
   Tenn. Civ. Proc. Rule 8 in the list. 

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Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory 

   Click the Sources tab.  Type Martindale-Hubbell in the "Find a Source" box.  Click on the first title. 
   Click OK-Continue.  To find information about the title, click the icon in front of it.


Shepardizing.
  Click on "Legal" then on "Shepard's Citations."
   Or when you are in a case, look for "Next Steps" drop down box to highlight Shepardize.

   LexisNexis Academic has a "How do I...?" that appears on the left menu.  Select a Shepard's topics to find out more.
   See also separate Shepardizing Topic.


Research Tips

   Use a thesaurus to find synonyms:  Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus
   - http://www.m-w.com/ - is an excellent site for both dictionary and thesaurus.

Plurals:          Regular plurals automatically searched.  City also searches cities, city's,
                            or cities'.  Child does not search for children.  [child! finds children]

Asterisk:        The * replaces one letter anywhere in a word.  Wom*n searches women or
                            woman.

Exclamation
Mark:              The ! replaces any ending.  Stock! finds stock as well as stockholder or
                            stocking.

Synonyms:   401k or 401 k (hyphens are treated as spaces).  Takeover or take over.
                            Doctor or physician.

Allcaps(aids)    Search is limited to AIDS.

Plural(aids)       Search is limited to aids, but not just to the disease.

Connectors:     
                             w/n        within certain number of words.
                             w/s        within the same sentence.
                             w/p        within the same paragraph.
                             pre/n     first word precedes the second word by n words.
                                                cable pre/2 television or tv.
                             and        both words must be anywhere in the same document.
                             not w/n rico not w/5 puerto searches rico, but it cannot appear closer than
                                                five words to the word puerto.
                             Select Tips for using search connectors in LexisNexis Academic for more help.

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