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Westlaw Asia

Thomson Reuters Training & Support

Westlaw Asia (new) Guide - Boolean Terms and Connectors (Copy)

Last Published: April 08, 2021

This guide lists the Boolean Terms and Connectors you can use to enhance your search and make your query more specific.

Boolean operators such as AND, OR, and BUT NOT allow you to refine and expand your search.

  • AND finds results that have both words on either side of the ‘and’ operator, e.g., director AND insolvency
  • OR finds results that have either word on each side of the ‘or’ operator, e.g., car OR truck
  • BUT NOT finds the first word but not the second, e.g., child BUT NOT children

Terms include:

  • Phrase searching, which uses “quotation marks” to find words exactly as written
  • An exclamation mark to find the root of a word, e.g., claim! will show results with claim, claims, claimed, claimant, claiming, etc.
  • An asterisk can be used to replace a single character, e.g., wom*n will show results with both ‘woman’ and ‘women’

Connectors include:

  • /p and +p allows words or phrases to be found in the same paragraph of a document, e.g., fiduciary duty /p “winding up”
    • /p means the words/phrases can be found in any order, e.g., ‘winding up’ can be before ‘fiduciary duty’ in the paragraph
    • +p means the words must be found in the order as written, e.g., ‘fiduciary duty’ must appear before ‘winding up’ in the paragraph
  • /s and +s allows words or phrases to be found within the same sentence of a document, e.g., negligence /s statutory duties
    • /s means the words/phrases can be found in any order, e.g., ‘statutory duties’ can be found before ‘negligence’ in the sentence
    • +s means the words must be found in the order as written, e.g., ‘negligence’ must appear before ‘statutory duties’ in the sentence.
  • /n and +n allows words or phrases to be found within a number length of each other in a document, e.g., evidence /15 bias
    • /n [number] means the words can be found in any order, e.g., 'bias' can be within 15 words before or after 'evidence'
    • +n [number] means the words must be found in the order as written, e.g., 'evidence' must be found within 15 words before 'bias'

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