Lexis Nexis Academic

Jackie McFadden
Reference Librarian
Winthrop University
Juner, 2008

LexisNexis Academic provides worldwide access to articles gathered from print, broadcast, and online media containing news, wire services, TV and radio broadcast transcripts, blogs, web-based publications, medical news, business news, company information, country profiles, law reviews, and more.

How to Search LexisNexis Academic

Easy Search:

Use “Easy Search” to search most content quickly.  Enter terms or phrases, with or without connectors, into the search box, choose a source to “Search Within” and “Specify Date” to choose a date range for your results.  Click “Search.” 

Power Search:

Use “Power Search” to browse and select specific sources.  You can choose to search by “Terms and Connectors” or “Natural Language.”   For an explanation of the types of connectors that can be used with this database, click on “Tips for Using Search Connectors” below the search box.  Enter your search terms in the search box and select a commonly used source from the dropdown list.  Click “i” for more information about a source.  If the source that you are searching for is not available, choose “More Sources” for further options.  Finding the correct keywords to use in your search will greatly improve your results.  Select “Add keywords (Index Terms) to your search” to limit and define your search.  LexisNexis will offer subject headings to match your keywords and will place them in your search form.  Power Search also allows you to search within document selections.

News Search:

Use a “News Search” to search national and international newspapers, wire services, web blogs, web publications, transcripts, reviews, business news, legal news, and healthcare news.  You can also search the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press and Chronicle of Higher Education.  Type your search terms into the search box.  Change the area of the search by clicking the dropdown lists.  To limit your search, add Industry, Subject or Region index terms by clicking the radio buttons under each category. You can choose up to ten terms.  Next, select one or more sources and choose a date range. Click “Search”.

Business Search:

Use “Business Search” to find corporate information, financial reports and country profiles.  You can also create a company list and compare up to five companies that are listed on the US stock exchanges.

There are several ways to search for business information.  Choose a category on the left, list and limit your search terms by the listed divisions.   For help filling out the form, click on the “?” icon at the top right in the gray bar.  Search help is available for all categories.

People Search:

Use “People Search” to find information about directors, politicians, celebrities and other prominent figures.  Enter last name in the first search box and first name in the second box.  Choose “Terms and Connectors” or “Natural Language” and enter your search terms in the “Additional Terms” box.   Select a source for your search.  Click the “i” icon for more information about the contents of a source.  Set a date range or search all availble dates.  Click the “Search” button.

Selecting Sources

The “Sources” tab is locatedat the top of the page next to the “Search” tab.  Use this link to obtain information from specific sources, such as individual newspaper, magazine, bulletin titles, etc.  There are two ways to search for sources.  “Find Sources” searches for specific sources and “Browse Sources” searches by category.   

Find Sources:

In “Find Sources” enter all or part of the title that you are searching for in the “Keyword” box.  You can restrict your search by choosing one or more “Publication Types” and one or more “Topics.” Click “Find Sources”.  A new page will open with a list of sources that match your keywords.  Select the source or sources that you want by clicking on the source name.  The sources selected will appear red on the right side of the page.   When your list is complete, click “OK – Continue” to place your selections into the Power Search form.  Add keywords and click “Search.”

Browse Sources:

“Browse Sources” is a broad category search.  Use this search when you are not sure which sources to choose.  Start by selecting a publication or content type and limit by country and topic if needed.  Each limiter will display a related list of categories.  Select a category and one or more related source titles.  The sources selected will appear red on the right side of the page.   When your list is complete, click “Ok – Continue” to place your selections into the Power Search form.  Add keywords to search your selected sources and click “Search.”

Finding Local News Sources

To find Southeastern or South Carolina news sources, including The Herald (Rock Hill), complete the following steps.  Choose:

1. News & Business Topics
2. Country – United States
• All Regions – Southeast or South Carolina
3. General News Sources
• Click the source titles that you want to search
4. Click “Ok – Continue” to add titles to the Power Search form.
5. Add keywords
6. Click “Search”

Viewing Results

The documents found from your search will appear on the results page and will be arranged by Publication Date or Source Relevance.  Your results will appear in “View Tagged ” which includes headline, source, publication date and page numbers.  For more information about a document, change “List View” to “Expanded List” which includes search terms highlighted in the context. 

You can limit your results by subject heading in the left navigation window.  Use the dropdown list to choose broad categories and click further subtopics listed below.  To see the full text of a document, click on the blue title link.  Your keywords will be highlighted within the text of the document and the number of “Hits” or times that your keyword appears will be listed at the bottom right corner of the page.  You can scroll through the list by clicking the arrow button. 

Below each article you will find a list of topics that are divided into major and minor index terms.   Relevancy ranking is shown for each term.  You can modify your search or narrow your search by choosing one or more topics. 

For further information, click Help to access the Online Help Manual.
For assistance, please go to the Reference Desk or call 323-4501