Any legal researcher who uses LexisAdvance will be familiar with Lexis' search bar.
We're ready to get cracking on our legal research.
NOT SO FAST!
Generally a search entered into this bar is processed as a 'Natural Language' search. This means that Lexis will use a algorithm to analyze your search terms and assign weights to different words or phrases when assembling results. A disadvantage of this system is that these weights are opaque to the user. Natural Language searching introduces uncertainty into searches that is unacceptable to many researchers. For example in a natural language search Lexis ignores the following words.
This problem explains the persistence of terms and connectors search modes in Westlaw and LexisAdvance. There are three ways to switch to terms and connectors
1. Using the advanced search dialog.
2. Using any connector symbol
3. After you run a search you can use the ‘Actions’ menu to switch between modes
