Academic General Tab

Revision as of 07:53, 7 February 2008

Easy Search vs. Power Search

The search form you use will always depend on your research needs. Generally speaking, when you need to do a simple search for a general idea, the Easy Search form is recommended. On the other hand, when you want to research something very specific, the Power Search form is recommended.

Easy Search

The default page of LexisNexis Academic is Easy Search. You can always return to this form by clicking the LexisNexis logo at the top left of every form. Not just for beginners, the Easy Search form is the place to go when you want to do a quick search of the most popular sources. Easy Search is a natural language search. Type in natural language, without terms like "PUBLICATION()" or "w/3" - the form will ignore these items.

This form is the most useful when you are browsing articles on a specific topic, or when you are doing preliminary research and want more general information. Simply choose your source(s), enter a few words related to your topic, select a date range, and click the Search button. Help is available under the “How do I” and Tutorial links on the right, indicated by the dual arrows.

For example, if you were would like the most recent articles on global warming from around the world, enter “global warming” into the search box (put quotes around phrases), select the “Major U.S. and World Publications” option, specify a date to keep your result set manageable, and click the Search button

Power Search

The other search form under the General Search tab is the Power Search. This form is recommended for precise, in-depth research. The default setting on this form is a terms and connectors search. Boolean style searching is encouraged while using Power Search.

To make your search even more powerful and precise, the Power Search form offers you many more ways to improve your results set. You can add LexisNexis SmartIndexing terms. Use the “Global Warming” index term to retrieve relevant articles, even when those exact words don’t appear in the article. You can use the “Search within Document Sections” option to search specific fields, for example when you’re looking for an article with the BYLINE of a certain author or an interview with a specific GUEST on a television or radio program.

Return to Academic main page.

Retrieved from "http://wiki.lexisnexis.com/academic/index.php?title=Statistical_SearchTables"