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Tips for Using Legal Encyclopedias on Westlaw and Lexis

CJS

Westlaw

To retrieve a list of the entries under a specific topic, use the PRELIM field. For example:

  • PRELIM(hospitals)
  • PRELIM("health and environment")

You also can find entries by browsing through the table of contents (click on "table of contents" at the top of the page once you are in the CJS database). Through this feature, you can expand each topic into sub-topics and continue expanding each level until you reach an entry of interest.

AmJur

Westlaw

To retrieve a list of the entries under a specific topic, use the PRELIM field. For example:

  • PRELIM("drugs and controlled substances")
  • PRELIM("social security and medicare") - Note that this will retrieve more than 2000 results, so you may want to try a narrower search, such as: PRELIM("social security and medicare") AND "attorney's fees"

It is also possible to click (or browse) through the table of contents (click on "table of contents" at the top of the page once you are in the AMJUR database). Through this feature, you can expand each topic into sub-topics and continue expanding each level until you reach an entry of interest.

Lexis

On Lexis, the AmJur database (2NDARY; AMJUR) automatically brings you to the table of contents. You can either browse through the levels to get to an entry of interest, or you can search. When searching from the main screen, be sure to check off whether you want to search the full text of documents, or search just the table of contents.

If you click on "Advanced" next to the red search button, you will see the more typical Lexis search screen that includes segments. The HEADING segment is similar to PRELIM on Westlaw and lets you search the topics. For example:

  • HEADING ("drugs and controlled substances")
  • HEADING ("social security and medicare") - Note that this search retrieves more than 2000 documents, so you may want to try a narrower search, such as: HEADING("social security and medicare") AND "attorney's fees"