JCU - LEXIS Guide

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Introduction
LEXIS provides full text primary legal materials from many jurisdictions including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Community, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Secondary sources, including journals, law reviews and indexes are also available.

Access
Access is from the Library's Electronic Databases page.
Login via the Remote Access page for off campus use

Selecting a database
Recently used sources allows you to select from a list of Lexis databases used recently by JCU searchers.
Look for a source Sources are arranged under tabs, eg Legal; News and Business; Public Records etc. Sources available under the Legal tab are displayed. To see other caterories of sources, click on the relevant tab. Clicking on the link next to a folder icon allows you to see all of the databases available in that folder. When you arrive at the level where the icon looks like a page you can start searching within that source.
Note: To locate UK or Australian material go to Global Legal, then select the appropriate jurisdiction. To locate journal indexes, select Secondary Legal, then Annotations and Indexes.
Find a source. Use this option if you know the name of the LEXIS database you wish to search. If you are unfamiliar with the LEXIS system of naming databases, select Look for a source. (See above)

Searching
Connectors
Enter the words you wish to search for in the search box. Use connectors (AND, OR, W, PRE) to specify the relationship between the words.
Combine your search terms with AND to find documents containing ALL the words, eg drugs AND sport
Combine your search terms with OR to find documents containing ANY of the words, eg company OR business
Use W/n to find words within a certain distance of each other, eg negligence W/15 employer
Use W/s to find words within the same sentence, eg circumstances W/s mitigat!
Use PRE/n to specify the order of words, eg profit PRE/2 loss
Truncation, wildcards
! is used to search for all words beginning with a certain stem, eg negligen! finds negligence, negligent
* is used to replace a specific number of characters eg wom*n finds woman, women
Focus search
To search for additional words within a set of search results, or within specific documents in the set, click on the Focus search option at the top of the results screen and add more search words.
Restrict search using document segments
Use this method if you wish to locate search terms in a specific section of a record, eg in the title, headnote, catchwords, article summary. Click on the + next to Restrict search using document segments, and select the appropriate segment from the drop down menu. Enter search terms in the box to the right, then click Add. When all search terms have been added, click on Search.
This is a good way to locate cases, articles or legislation if you know the title or citation.

Viewing and printing search results
Viewing options appear at the top left of the search results screens. Select Cite to view citations only, Full for the full text, KWIC (keyword in context) to see 25 words on either side of the search terms (this number may be adjusted) or Custom to select specific fields to view.
Print and email options appear at the top right of the search results screen. To print a document, select Text only and then print from your browser.

Finishing
When you have finished your Lexis session click on the Sign Off button on the top right of the screen

Search examples
Searching for a UK case. Example: Donoghue v Stevenson 1932 AC 562

From the LEXIS homepage, select Global Legal -->United Kingdom-->Case Law-->UK Cases, Combined Courts

At this point a search screen appears. Do not enter terms in the top search box. Make sure that the red dot at the top of the search box is set at Terms and Connectors
Use the drop down Select a Segment Menu to select NAME. Enter one name from the title of the case, eg Donoghue, in the box on the right and click on Add

Enter another name eg Stevenson. Click on Add

Click on Search

To search by citation, follow steps 1-3 and select CITE from the Select a Segment Menu. In the box on the right enter the citation excluding the names eg 1932 A C 562. Click on Add. (Note: When searching by CITE it is important that the citation format, including the spacing, matches that in the database. If the case you require is not retrieved using CITE, try searching by name).

Viewing and printing search results
Searching for an Australian (Butterworths) journal article. Example: Gray, N. & Edelman, J. 'Developing the law of omissions: a common law duty to rescue?' (1998) 6 Torts Law Journal 240

From the LEXIS homepage select Global Legal--> Australia -->Journals-->Torts Law Journal (Australia)
At this point a search screen appears. Do not enter terms in the top search box. Make sure that the red dot at the top of the search box is set at Terms and Connectors.
Use the drop down Select a Segment Menu to select AUTHOR. Enter the author's surname eg Gray in the box on the right and click on Add
Use the drop down Select a Segment Menu to select TITLE. Enter a keyword from the title, eg rescue in the box on the right and click on Add
Click on Search
Viewing and printing search results
Searching for a US case. Example: Thomas & Betts Corp v Panduit Corp 138 F3d 277

From the LEXIS homepage select Get a Document from the green banner at the top of the screen.
Enter the citation, excluding party names in the search box, eg 138 F3d 277 and click Get. (If unsure of the correct citation format, click on the link to Citation Formats)
If the citation is unknown, select the Party Name option to search by case name
Viewing and printing search results
Searching for a US law review article. Example: Miller, M.C. 'An Australian Nunavut?: a comparison of Inuit and Aboriginal rights movements in Canada and Australia' (1998) 12 Emory Int'l L. Rev. 1175

From the LEXIS homepage select Get a Document from the green banner at the top of the screen.
Enter the citation, excluding author and title of the article eg 12 Emory Intl L Rev 1175 (If unsure of the correct citation format, click on the link to Citation Formats)
Viewing and printing search results

If this information is inadequate, incorrect, or can be improved in any way, please let us know