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Westlaw Tutorial
All items in red
Enter the following search in the search box: Dog canine /s sniff! /p drug mari*uana cocaine “controlled substance” 
Westlaw requires phrases to be enclosed in quotation marks. A space between words that are not enclosed in quotation marks is read as an “or” and Westlaw will retrieve all documents containing either one of the words. The “/s” and “/p” are connectors that stand for “within the same sentence” and “within the same paragraph”. ! is a root expander and * is a wild card. Sniff! Will retrieve sniff, sniffing, sniffed or sniffer. The * in mari*uana allows for the variant spellings of either marijuana or marihuana.
Step 3 Click on the search button. A list of citations to the cases that were retrieved will be displayed with your search terms highlighted in yellow. The cases will be listed in reverse chronological order when you run a “Terms and Connectors” search. Notice that there is a red flag next to some of the cases. This indicates that the case has some negative history that may affect its precedential value. On the right side of your screen you will find annotations that most closely match your subject as well as “West Key Numbers” to provide additional sources for finding more cases on your subject.
Step 4 Move forward in your search results until you get to the blue hyperlinked case Ouellette v Commonwealth
Once you open the Ouellette case, you will now see links to “Links for 2004 WL 1607048” and “Result List.” Click on “Links for 2004 WL 1607048” to see the information provided. You will see that you can “Keycite” the case from this screen. The “Result List” link takes you back to the complete list of cases retrieved by your search.
Step 5 We are going to do a Natural Language** search about sniff dogs in the context of students and school lockers. Most of the relevant cases are from federal courts. On the first screen, under cases, select “All Federal Cases.”
Step 6 Now click on Natural Language Enter the following natural language search into the search box: can sniff dogs or sniffer dogs be used to search students or school lockers
The retrieved documents are ranked by statistical relevance, with the document most closely matching the description ranked first. All the search terms do not necessarily need to appear in the document, and some terms are weighted more heavily than others, depending on factors such as how frequently the term appears in the database. Step 7 Click on “Search” to retrieve your search results and highlighted search terms.
Now click on the blue hyperlinked title of your first document. Browse through your document using the Term arrow or the Best arrow at the bottom of the page. 
Additional Information for Part I. * Boolean Logic is a complete system of logical operations creating search terms for databases, internet sites, etc. Below is a small chart illustrating the three basic search terms and their uses: | OR allows more than one term to be searched |
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| AND (default search term) |
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| NOT allows you to exclude certain information |
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** A natural language search allows you to enter a description of the main concepts of an issue in Standard English
II. Find a Case by Citation
Step 1 Click on Find&Print at the top of the screen.
Enter the following citation in the box labeled “Find by citation” that appears in the left frame: 242 Va 459 Click on the go button. Your find search pulls up the case Federal Insurance Co. v Starr Electric Co, decided by the Virginia Supreme Court on November 8, 1991. *Be aware that you can print up to 20 citations at a time by typing the citations in the search box and using a semicolon between citations. OR To find out which cases, reports, and other publications you can look for in use the second “Find This Document by Citation.”
Step 1 Go to “Find This Document by Citation” and click “go.”
Step 2 On the left screen, click “Publications List.”
Step 3 On the right screen, make sure your cursor is in the “Starts with” circle. Then type the phrase “Virginia Reports.” Be sure to check that the “Publication Country” icon on the left screen is set to US- United States. “Virginia Reports” should be the first result yielded in blue. III. Find Case by Party Name
Step 1 Click again on Find& Print at the top of the screen Click on the “Find a Case by Party Name” link in the left frame. The search screen will have two boxes where the names of the parties are to be entered. (Only one party name needs to be entered if that is all the information you have.)
Step 2 We are looking for a Virginia case “Tigrett v Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.”Type the name Tigrett in the first box and Rector in the second box*.
Leave the “Select a Jurisdiction” option below the second box at its default setting of “All U.S. Federal and State Cases. Click on the Go button. Westlaw finds three cases. * Remember to format your cases correctly. Each box should have a different word in it. The program automatically inserts the “vs.” Example: Roe v. Wade. “Roe” should be in the first box, while “Wade” should be in the second. This is not necessary if you only have one party name to enter.
IV. West’s Key Number System.
Step 1 At the top of the screen click on “Key Numbers”
Step 2 Click on the blue hyperlinked “Key Search.” At this point you can search by topic. Click on “Immigration Law.” You can either search all immigration law or select a topic.
Step 3 Click on “Deportation and Removal” and then click on “Habeas Corpus.”
Step 4 Choose a source. Click on the drop down box and select “Fourth Circuit Federal and State Cases.” At this point, West is providing the terms for your search. Notice again the terms are highlighted in yellow.
V. West’s Key Number Digest Outline
Step 1 Click on Key Numbers
Step 2 Select West Key Number Digest Outline
Step 3 This is an outline of West’s Key Number subjects. Expand “Aliens Immigration, and Citizenship” by clicking the plus sign.
Step 4 Expand “Aliens in General”
Step 5 Select “Who Are Aliens” by clicking on the box to the left of the heading (k104)
Step 6 Click search selected at the bottom of the screen
Step 7 Select “Federal” and in the drop down box select “Fourth Circuit.” Notice you can select the order you want from “Most Recent” to “Most cited.”
Step 8 Click on search. This gives you the head notes. To get the full text of the opinion, click on the case name.
VI. Forms in West Law The most efficient way to find forms is by using the Table of Contents that is available for many of the databases. Let’s start with Virginia Practice.
Step 1 At the opening page, scroll down to “Treatises, Forms, CLE’s and Other Practice Materials.”
Step 2 Find “Virginia Practice” and click on the blue hyperlinked “Table of Contents.”
Step 3 Expand* “Family Law.” Expand forms Expand “Bills of Complaint.” Click on the “Bill of Complaint Alleging Separation Grounds” tab.
*To expand any item, click the + button that precedes the title.
VII. Forms Using All TOCs Next we will look at other Table of Contents to find additional forms.
Step 1 While in “Virginia Practice Series Table of Contents” notice the blue hyperlink for “All TOCs” at the tope of the page. Click on “All TOCs.”
Step 2 Expand “General Secondary Sources & Forms”
Step 3 Click on “Am Jur Legal Forms Second Edition”
Step 4 Expand “Aliens & Citizens”
Step 5 Click on “Naturalization Papers lost or destroyed.” Now go back to the All TOC’s list. Other areas to search for forms include Nichols Cyclopedia of Forms and West’s Legal Forms.
VIII. Finding Statutes At the first screen in Westlaw, scroll down to “Statutes and Legislative Materials.” There is a table of contents and an index.
Step 1 Click on the “Table of Contents.” Again, each title expands by clicking on the + sign.
Step 2 Expand “Domestic Relations.” “Expand Divorce, Affirmation and Annulment.” Now, you are able to click on any of the statutes.
IX. Using the Index
Let’s look at the index. At the opening page scroll down to “Virginia Statutes” and click on the index. This is an alphabetical list of common terms you might use when searching for a statute.
Step 1 Expand “Divorce.”
Step 2 Expand “Marriage.”
Step 3 Expand “Desertion.” You will see a list of statutes that have blue hyperlinks. Again you can click on any of the blue hyperlinks and print the statute. Note that the United States Code also has a Table of Contents and an Index. This tutorial should get you started with Westlaw.
OTHER TIPS Clicking on the “I” will provide you the information contained in that database. Clicking on the “Directory” at the top of the screen will provide a list of databases available. Use a table of contents if it is available. The Help link under any search box in terms and connectors explains how to use connectors.
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Latest page update: made by sgravel
, Oct 16 2008, 3:15 PM EDT
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