Spell Check and Thesaurus
Spell Check
When users enter searches into keyword fields, Loislaw suggests spellings for potential errors if the search engine cannot find a match.
For example, if a user misspells defendant (as in the query below), Loislaw prompts the user with a correction.
Note that Loislaw repeats the full search expression (with corrected spelling) and creates a link so that users can execute the right search without retyping any keywords.
Click on the correction "estate NEAR/5 defendant" to view its search results.
Click More... to view variants recognized as possible alternatives that exist in the database. These variants may not reflect standard spellings; they are typographically similar occurrences recognized by the search engine in the database. Loislaw will not suggest a variant that does not exist in the database.
Note also that Loislaw will not suggest corrected spellings if a keyword occurs in the database in some nonstandard or erroneous form and the search expression is otherwise valid. For example, a keyword search for "defendent" alone produces hits in the U.S. Supreme Court Reports database.
Thesaurus
Loislaw offers a thesaurus to assist with keyword searches.
Type either the tilde symbol ~ or the word thesaurus before any keyword. Loislaw will retrieve documents including the keyword and its synonyms.
For example, the search expression ~murder and gun (or thesaurus murder and gun) will retrieve documents containing the keywords murder and gun as well as documents containing the synonyms homicide or kill (in addition to other synonyms of murder) and the keyword gun.
Note that thesaurus will be treated by the search engine as a logical connector. To search for the word thesaurus in a document, place the word thesaurus in quotation marks (e.g., copyright and "thesaurus").
For more information on connectors, see Connectors and Multiple connectors, parentheses, and search priority. For more information on connectors and phrase searching, see Connectors and phrase searching with quotation marks.