Boolean Searching
You can use the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT when searching decisions by the following search criteria: Structured Keywords, Summary, Name of Panel, References, Section of the Act, Reporter Citation, Style of Cause and Neutral Citation.
The default is a boolean AND search. For example, if you entered the words heart stress in your search, the result will be the same as if you entered heart and stress. The search will display decisions containing both the words heart and stress within the search criteria you chose.
Each operator is described in more detail below. For each of these examples, let us assume that you are searching by decision summary.
AND operator
Adding AND between the words you specify in your search will display decisions that contain all the words which you typed in the Summary Contains box.
---> For example: chronic AND pain
The search will display decisions where the word chronic and the word pain both appear in the summary of a decision. The two words do not need to be in any specific order and may be separated by other words.
The following diagram graphically shows how the AND operator functions. The search will find results in the shaded area.
OR operator
Adding OR between the words you specify in your search will display decisions that contain any of the words which you typed in the Summary Contains box.
---> For example: chronic OR pain
The search will display decisions where the word chronic or the word pain appears in the summary of a decision.
The following diagram graphically shows how the OR operator functions. The search will find results in the shaded area.
NOT operator
Adding NOT between the words you specify in your search will display decisions that contain the first word but not the second word you typed.
---> For example: chronic NOT pain
The search will display decisions where the word chronic but not the word pain appears in the summary of a decision.
The following diagram graphically shows how the NOT operator functions. The search will find results in the shaded area.
---> Note:
In any of the boolean searches, if the word you typed in a search criteria box is part of a longer word, that longer word will also be included in the search result. For example, a search for the word ear will cause the search to also display decisions with words such as early, earnings and hearing.
