Using Natural Language

The information in this article applies to the following LexisNexis^® products and services: Lexis+^®, Lexis^®

A plain language search is effective when you are just starting your research project or you do not know a lot about the topic you are researching. When you use plain language in your search, such as how is the valuation determined for a leveraged buyout? or leveraged buyout valuation, the service runs a natural language search. An algorithm analyzes your search terms and retrieves results based on the relevance of your terms and your selected Preferred results set display in your Settings:

• Standard - the service uses an algorithm to determine the relevance of your terms to the available documents and returns results that are relevant for your entered terms. While viewing results, click Actions > Expanded Results to see documents that use any but not necessarily all of your terms.
• Expanded - the service uses an algorithm and returns results that include your terms, though some documents may not include all of your terms. While viewing results, click Actions > Fewer Results to see the Standard view.

The following information helps explain what happens when you run a natural language search:

• Some common words, such as the, any, and it, are ignored in a Natural Language search. For more information, see Ignored Terms in Your Search .
• If you enter a legal phrase, such as summary judgment, the service recognizes the legal phrases and treats both as a phrase and as a search for the individual terms. For example, a search for summary judgment retrieves documents with the phrase summary judgment, but also retrieves documents that only contain the word judgment or only contain the word summary.
• If you want to find an exact phrase, put the phrase in quotation marks.
  Note: Using quotation marks turns off the search functionality that finds other forms of words automatically, such as singular/plural and different tenses of verbs.