First Principles of Business Law

5. Finding documents using ‘search terms’

5.1. Using simple search terms

Suppose you want to find documents that you don't know the name of but which might be relevant to a particular topic.  In such circumstances, you will need to search documents for references to the specified topic.

You can do this by using ‘search terms’.  These contain 'key' words likely to be found in the documents you want.  Most databases provide a special interface for finding documents using search terms. For example, when you connect to the AustLII homepage, you will see the AustLII search box at the top right of the screen, as illustrated below.  The default search setting (Autosearch) provides the best option for an unskilled searcher.