Academic Help: Federal Statutes
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About the Federal Statutes, Codes & Regulations Search Form
The Federal Statutes, Codes & Regulations search form is located in the US Legal section of LexisNexis Academic. This search form will allow you to accomplish tasks such as:
- Searching or browsing the Federal Code
- Searching or browsing the US Consitution
- Searching through the Federal Register
Search For
The "Search For" section allows you to input your own key terms. In these search boxes, you can put words or phrases that convey a particular topic, like "abortion." This is useful when you need to browse several articles on one topic. The Search For section also makes it easy to find particular articles you know specific information about. For example, if you need to find articles by a specific citation, type the citation in the search box and select "Citation" from the drop-down box. In addition to a full text search ("Everywhere" in the drop down box,) you may use the drop down box to find articles:
- by Headings
- by Citation
- Articles that contain your input term at least 5 times
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.
Search Source
On the Federal Statutes, Codes & Regulations 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.
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 US Code and Alabama Code 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.