Academic Help: Environmental Studies

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Latest revision as of 11:40, 5 March 2010

Durable URL: http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sf&sfi=AC02NBEnvironStSrch

[edit] About the Search Form

The Environmental Studies search form is located in the "Subject Areas" section of LexisNexis Academic. Use this search form to accomplish tasks like:

Find Environmental News stories
Research Environmental Law
Find EPA information

[edit] Search For

This form has a quick search default. If all you want to do is search for a few terms in a specific source, then the rest of this Help section does not apply to you.

If you use any of the other features, then the form switches to using Boolean logic and you do need to read the rest of this Help section.

Boolean logic means you construct your search using individual terms joined by connectors such as "And" and "Or." If you are looking for stories about Hillary Clinton and simply search on "Hillary Clinton," LexisNexis will assume that you want to find documents in which those two words occur in that order and right next to each other. You will miss any document that refers to her as "Hillary Rodham Clinton." To find such documents you can enter the terms on separate lines and pick the "AND" or "within 5 words of" option from the drop down box for Connectors (see below). For more about connectors, see the article on Boolean Searching.

Note: Although quote marks are used in the examples, they are ignored in Boolean searches. If you want to search a phrase, simply enter it in a single text box and LexisNexis will assume you want the exact words in the exact order.

[edit] Connectors

The second and third input rows of in the Search For section start with a drop down box that lets you choose connectors when you have entered terms on more than one row. The connectors are:

And
Or
Not
Within 5 words of
In Same Sentence as
In Same Paragraph as

For an explanation of how these and the other available connectors work, and to learn about search techniques, see the article on Boolean Searching.

[edit] Search Terms

Sometimes called "keywords," the terms you enter in the text box will be matched against terms that occur in documents when your search is run. There are a few things you should know about entering terms on this form:

Implied adjacency -- if you enter two or more words in the same box (with no connector), LexisNexis will assume you want to find documents in which those words occur together and in order. Entering "hot dog" will only find documents that mention hot dogs. Entering "hot AND dog" will find any document that has both these words, for example a story about a dog on a hot day.
Automatic pluralization -- LexisNexis automatically searches plural forms of most nouns. You do not need to use wildcard characters to search for "dog" and "dogs," simply enter "dog" and LexisNexis will find both variations.

[edit] More Options

Use the "Edit in Power Search" link at the bottom of the form to copy your search into the Power Search form, where you will have more more flexibility and features, including the ability to add index terms, search in specific document sections, and use more complicated Boolean logic.

[edit] Specify Date

One of the most efficient ways to narrow your results set is by specifying the date. If you're researching a current event, try narrowing the date to the last 6 months. If you're researching a past event, use the "Is Between..." option to set the dates yourself. Choosing a time period to search through will change your results drastically. You will be much more likely to find relevant results.

[edit] Select Source

On the Environmental Studies search form, simply click the check boxes of those sources you'd like to search.

Your other option is to use the "Edit in Power Search" link to navigate to the Power Search form. From there, you can add Boolean operators to your search like HLEAD() and BYLINE().

Your other option is to use the "Browse Sources" or "Find Sources" links to navigate to the Source Directory. From there, you can choose multiple specific sources to search within. For example, if you wanted to search "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" at the same time, simply click the "Find Sources" link, select the sources, and go from there. For more instructions on the Source Directory, click here.

[edit] Finding More Sources in the Source Directory

To locate additional sources

Go to the Sources/Browse option
Click the radio button at the top for "News and Business Topics"
Open the the "Environment" folder

Once you have selected your sources, click "OK Continue" to open the Power Search form.

[edit] Sources Added from LexisNexis Environment

In 2009, LexisNexis discontinued its LexisNexis Environmental product. The following sources were taken from that product and added to LexisNexis Academic in 2009. You can use the Subscription Links appearing below to go directly to each source.

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 Durable URL: [http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sf&sfi=AC02NBEnvironStSrch http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?verb=sf&sfi=AC02NBEnvironStSrch]
-[[Image:Environmental_Studies.jpg|frame|600px|right]]
+[[Citing References|Help with Citing Sources]]
 ==About the Search Form==
+[[Image: Environmental1.jpg|600px|right]]
 The Environmental Studies search form is located in the "Subject Areas" section of LexisNexis Academic. Use this search form to accomplish tasks like: