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Search Only the Table of Contents

If you are searching a looseleaf or text you may find it helpful to restrict your search to just the table of contents.

This can give you a more useful set of results, particularly in situations where the terms used are very common or have multiple meanings. However you may miss some relevant content if the table of contents doesn’t use the precise words or terms you are searching for.

Both Lexis+ and Westlaw Canada allow you to limit your search to the table of contents of a specific title.

Lexis+

In Lexis+, use the Table of Contents (TOC) only search option.

Screenshot of how to limit a search in Lexis+ to table of contents only

You can also search across all texts in Lexis+ by using the search syntax heading(XXX) where XXX is the word or terms you are looking for (e.g. heading(cat /5 dog)). Note that Lexis+ will pull results from any of the headings that include your terms, whether they be chapter headings, headings or subheadings.

Westlaw Canada

Similarly, in Westlaw Canada, go to the title you want to search and then click on Search TOC.

Screenshot of how to limit a search in Westlaw Canada to table of contents only

Susannah Tredwell

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