Searching

Using West km, you can easily search for documents.

Basic Searching
Searching by Library Group
Searching by Citation
Searching with KeySearch

Basic Searching

Using the search box at the top of the page, you can search the full text of West km documents using either a terms and connectors query or natural language.

Terms and Connections

You can use a Boolean terms and connectors query to specify the relationship between your search terms. Just type your query in the search box at the top of the page and click Search.

 

These queries consist of two parts:

• terms from the document or issue that you are researching
• connectors that specify the relationship between those terms

This method is usually most effective when you know details about a specific document that you want to retrieve or when you want to retrieve all documents that meet specific criteria. For example,

"insurance policy" /s coverage period /s effect! /p damage injur**

For a listing of connectors, see Connectors and Special Characters.

Natural Language

You can use descriptive terms in plain language to describe the legal issue you are researching. Just type your terms in the search box at the top of the page and click Search.

 

This method is often effective when you are researching a complex legal issue. For example,

must damage be demonstrated that it occurred while an insurance policy is in effect

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Searching by Library Group

Scope of Search

When using the search box in West km, you can restrict your search to particular groups of documents. For example, if you have both West km for Litigation and West km for Transactions, you might want to restrict your search to litigation documents, transactions documents, or both. Or you might want to restrict your search to documents in particular office locations or practice areas.

Before running your search, click the list next to the search box at the top of the page. In the Scope of Search dialog box, select the content and library groups you want to search and click Save.

 

Browsing

You can easily browse content in a particular library group from the Home page.

In the Browse section, click a libraries tab (e.g., Litigation Libraries). The documents in that library group are displayed. In addition, a corresponding tabbed text box is displayed at the top of the page. To search this library group, type your search in the text box and click Search.

 

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Searching by Citation

KeyCite is the citation service that allows you to quickly determine whether cases, statutes, regulations, or administrative decisions are good law and find other sources that cite them.

In West km, the power of KeyCite is integrated with your organization's internal documents so that you can

• build a list of your organization's citing documents
• view the extent to which a citing document discusses a cited document
• easily evaluate the validity of cases, statutes, regulations, or administrative decisions that are cited in your organization's documents

From the Search Box

You can easily retrieve a list of your organization's documents that cite a particular WestlawNext document.

Just type the KeyCite command (kc: or keycite:), followed by the citation, in the search box at the top of the page and click Search.

 

Note: When typing a citation, include spaces in the format, such as between the volume number, publication, and page number, and between the statutory abbreviation and section number (e.g., type kc: 501 us 380, not kc: 501us380).

From a Document

When you are viewing one of your organization's documents in West km, the KM icon ( ) appears after each citation that is used in other indexed West km documents at your organization.

Just click the KM icon to view the citing documents.

 

KeyCite Status Flags

West km adds a KeyCite status flag next to each citation in your document that has available KeyCite information. These flags allow you to easily evaluate the validity of a case, statute, regulation, or administrative decision.

For more information about KeyCite status flags, see KeyCite Status Flags.

Depth of Treatment

West km uses KeyCite depth of treatment bars to indicate the extent to which a citing document at your organization discusses a WestlawNext document.

 

The definitions and the number of citing references are West km defaults. Your administrator may have customized these for your organization.

Symbol	Definition	Description
	Examined	Your organization's document cites the WestlawNext document 10 or more times.
	Discussed	Your organization's document cites the WestlawNext document 6 to 9 times.
	Cited	Your organization's document cites the WestlawNext document 2 to 5 times.
	Mentioned	Your organization's document cites the WestlawNext document 1 time.

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Searching with KeySearch

In West km for Litigation, KeySearch can help you easily retrieve documents at your organization that are relevant to a legal topic. The following techniques are used to ensure that KeySearch retrieves comprehensive, reliable, and relevant documents at your organization:

• Automatic Classification: West's categorization and recommendation engine (CaRE) automatically indexes and assigns your organization's documents to KeySearch topics.
• Manual Classification: Your administrator can manually assign documents to KeySearch topics. In addition, your administrator can customize the existing KeySearch hierarchy of topics to meet your organization's needs.
• Full-Text Searching: Terms and connectors queries crafted by West attorney-editors and your administrator leverage full-text searching to retrieve documents related to KeySearch topics.

To retrieve documents at your organization using KeySearch,

1. In the West km interface, click the KeySearch tab. The KeySearch page is displayed.

2. Browse the list of KeySearch topics and subtopics by clicking the Browse icons () or hypertext links.

   If displayed, numbers after each topic indicate the number of unique documents at your organization that were assigned to that topic and its subtopics by automatic or manual classification. (This count does not include documents retrieved using full-text searching.)

3. Change the scope of your search to particular library groups, if desired (see Scope of Search).
   
4. When you click a KeySearch topic, a corresponding tabbed text box is displayed at the top of the page.
5. To display all documents in that KeySearch topic, leave the text box blank and click Search.
6. To search that KeySearch topic, type your search in the text box and click Search.

The documents relevant to the KeySearch topic you selected are displayed.

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