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Choose Boolean connectors

In addition to choosing terms for your Terms and Connectors search, you must also choose proximity connectors to specify the relationships between your search terms.
Grammatical connectors
/p
Search terms must appear in the same paragraph (ex: hearsay /p utterance).
+p
The first search term must precede the second term in the same paragraph (ex: ti(burke +p burke)).
/s
Search terms must appear in the same sentence (ex: design /s defect).
+s
The first search term must precede the second term in the same sentence (ex: attorney +s fee).
Numerical connectors
/n
Search terms must appear within "n" terms of each other, where "n" is a number from 1 to 255 (ex: personal /3 jurisdiction).
+n
The first search term must precede the second term by "n" terms, where "n" is a number from 1 to 255 (ex: capital +3 gain).
BUT NOT connector (%)
You can exclude documents that contain certain terms by using the BUT NOT connector (%). Westlaw excludes everything that follows the BUT NOT connector in your search.
For example, the query "tax taxation % income /3 tax taxation" retrieves any document that contains the terms "tax" or "taxation," but excludes documents where those terms appear within 3 words of "income."
note
Use Advanced Search if you want to use an AND connector (&) or an OR connector (represented by a space) in Westlaw.

This article applies to:

  • Product: Practical Law
  • Subject: Research,Search

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