Searching Using Terms and Connectors in Queries

Use terms and connectors in queries to search terms from the document or issue you are researching and employ connectors to specify the relationship between your search terms. This method is 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! /s damage injur**

Type your query in the Enter Terms and Connectors Search box at the top of the page and press Enter or click the search button.

Using Connectors in Queries

Use connectors to specify the relationships that must exist between the terms in your retrieved documents.

Type:	To retrieve documents that contain the following:
& (AND)	Both search terms.
a space (OR)	Either search term or both terms.
/p	Search terms in the same paragraph.
+p	The first term preceding the second within the same paragraph.
/s	Search terms in the same sentence.
+s	The first term preceding the second within the same sentence.
/n	Search terms within n terms of each other (where n is a number from 1 to 255).
+n	The first term preceding the second within n terms of each other (where n is a number from 1 to 255).
“ ”	Search terms appearing in the same order as in the quotation marks.
% (but not)	The terms following the percent symbol.

Using Special Characters in Queries

Type the universal character (*) to represent one variable character. Type the root expander (!) to retrieve words with different endings - this includes retrieving email metadata results using root expanders when searching for incomplete mailing addresses. Note that plural and possessive words are automatically retrieved without a root expander. See "Turning Off Automatic Plurals and Equivalent Terms" below for additional information.

Typing gr*w retrieves grew and grow.

Typing contribut! retrieves contributed, contributor, contributing, contribution, and contributory.

Note: You can get email metadata results using root expanders if you are searching for an incomplete mailing address.

Searching for Compound Words and Abbreviations

If your search term is a compound word, use its hyphenated form to retrieve all variations. If your search term is an abbreviation, enter it with periods and without spaces to retrieve all variations.

Typing whistle-blow retrieves whistle-blow, whistleblow, and whistle blow.

Typing h.i.v. retrieves H.I.V., H. I. V., HIV, and H I V.

Turning Off Automatic Plurals and Equivalent Terms in Search

By default, searches retrieve plural forms and equivalent terms. To only find the exact term you specify in the search, type the # symbol preceding the term.

Typing #damage retrieves damage but not damages.

Typing #willfull retrieves willfull but not wilful.