LexisNexis Academic - News Help Guide

The following is a description of how to search for NEWS in LexisNexis Academic.
Access our printable handout for sample screen images that correspond with the explanation.

Searching

Easy Search in LexisNexis lets your search with limited options from 1980 until today. Here is how to search in Easy Search for an article:

• Enter in the text entry box/es under "Search the News" the keywords of your topic.
• Narrow your search in one of the following ways:
  • Source Type: Use the drop down menu under "By Source Type" to choose the relevant news source for your search (e.g. newspapers, magazines, wire services, broadcast transcripts, blogs, etc.).
  • Source Title: Use the drop down menu under "Or by Source Title" to choose a particular news source (e.g. Chicago Sun-Times, CNN, Salon.com, etc.).

For more advanced searching options, click on "News" on the left under "General Searching" and then select "All News" under the "News" heading.

• Enter in the text entry box/es next to "Search For" the key words of your topic.
• Use the drop down menu next to each text entry box to specify where you want to find your search terms (e.g. headline & lead, author, subject terms, etc.).
• Narrow your search by date by using the drop down menu next to "Specify Date."
• Narrow your search by source type under "Select Source." Use the drop down menu next to "By Type" to choose the relevant news source for your search (i.e. newspapers, magazines, wire services, broadcast transcripts, blogs, etc.).

Results List

Once you have entered the search information listed above and hit the "Search" button, the following information and options will appear:

• You can sort your results by "Relevance," "Newest to Oldest," or "Oldest to Newest." To do this, click on the drop down menu next to "Sort" near the top of the page to select which sorting method you prefer.
• To see one of the articles listed in your search results, click on the title of the article.
• You can narrow  your search by category type by clicking on the desired type (i.e. newspapers, newswires & press releases, statistics, etc.) on the left side.
• You can search within the results list by entering a keyword in the "Search within results" text entry box on the top right.

Article Record

Once you click on an article title, the following options and information for the article record appear:

• The publication name and date are located on the top center of the article record.
• The article title is enlarged on the top left.
• The article author is listed after "Byline."
• You can either print or e-mail the article to yourself by clicking the print documents or email documents icon on the top right side of the screen.

General Tips for Searching

• Truncate your terms with an asterisk (*) to find more results.  For example, type comput* to find the words computer or computing.
• Search for exact phrases with quotation marks (“”).
• Use just a few key words in your search.  The database will not look for common ‘stop words’ like: been, however, so, or, in, etc.
• When a singular word is searched, the plural and possessive forms of that word will also be searched as long as you do not put your search term in quotation marks (“”). For example, a search for the phrase alley cat could also search for all of the following: alley cat, alley cat's, alley cats, alley's cat, alley's cat's, alley's cats, alleys cat, etc.

Need additional help?
Ask a Reference Librarian!

• Des Plaines Campus Library, 2nd floor, 847.635.1644
• Ray Hartstein Campus Library, Room A200, 847.635.1474

8/11 (2010 pdf)