Ravel View on Lexis

Use Ravel^TM View in Cases on the Lexis^® service to get the big picture as you start research. Find key cases faster and uncover overlooked cases. Ravel View incorporates Shepard's^® Citation Service treatment so you can also determine how cases have been treated positively or negatively. 

How to Display Ravel View in Case Search Results
How to Use Ravel View
Refining Ravel View

 How to Display Ravel View in Case Search Results

Select the Ravel View icon in the upper right corner of your case search results to display Ravel View. Ravel View is not the default display so selecting the icon is important.

Ravel View graphically presents the top 75 results from your current results set, based on the relevancy algorithm. If you have applied filters to your search while viewing a results set, you may have to refresh the web page to update Ravel View to reflect the top 75 cases of the current results set.

Cases are represented as individual circles and the lines connecting each case represent the citing relationships between the top 75 cases in the results list. Line color represents Shepard’s treatment (e.g., green for positive). The overall view shows how the current case results are connected in four ways:

• How often each case has been cited - how seminal each case may be. The larger the circle, the more the case has been cited within the current results.
• Chronologically - the horizontal axis shows when results cases were decided, from oldest to newest.
• By Jurisdiction - the vertical axis shows the highest federal court at the top, then federal courts, followed by state courts.
  Note: Court categories displayed correspond to your search results. For example, if your first 75 results do not include U.S. Supreme Court cases, that category will not display.
• Search relevance - the higher the circle within the court's horizontal bar, the more relevant according to your search results.

Note: The Sort by drop-down defaults to Court. When you select Relevance from the Sort by drop-down, the jurisdiction vertical axis is removed, and you see the top 75 results by relevance without the court horizontal axis.

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 How to Use Ravel View

To use Ravel View, click a case circle. The case name and cite displays and the case connections from your top 75 search results are highlighted.

The Shepard’s treatment colors are also displayed on the citing connection lines. On the right side of your screen, your results list shifts the case you selected to the top of the results list so you can quickly open and review the full text.

View the precise language from decisions in your results that negatively or positively treated your selected case. Hover over the circle of a citing case to see the point of law discussed and to determine if the other court's analysis is relevant to your research.

To return to the full view of all available case connections, click anywhere in the view background.

Ravel View graphics cannot be saved to a folder or delivered with document delivery. You can, however, copy and save screens using your keyboard functions.

Note: When Court is selected in the Sort by: drop-down list, the court levels are displayed on the left side of the graph. When Relevance is selected, you see the circles ordered from most relevant to least relevant.

For additional information, see the Legend available in Ravel View.

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 Refining Ravel View

You can refine your view to more closely match your specific fact pattern. The case filtering options under Filters are also available for Ravel View. You can refine your view by:

• Adding another concept to your Ravel View and results - enter additional search terms in the Search Within Results filter
• Refine Ravel View to specific jurisdictions - select specific states or federal jurisdictions
• Refine Ravel View to a specific timeframe - use the Timeline sliders to select a specific date range or enter specific dates in the Timeline fields

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