How to find journal articles on a topic, using Westlaw

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to search for journal articles in Westlaw. It explains how to navigate the platform, narrow down search results, and find relevant journal articles. The guide also highlights the ability to customize search preferences and save useful articles for future reference.

Charlie Brampton
22 steps
4 minutes

Westlaw

Quickly searching for journal articles

Navigate to <https://signon.thomsonreuters.com/federation/UKF?entityID=https%3A%2F%2Fidp.brookes.ac.uk%2Fidp%2Fshibboleth&returnto=https%3A%2F%2Fwestlawuk.thomsonreuters.co.uk%2FBrowse%2FHome%2FWestlawUK%3FskipAnonymous%3Dtrue>

Click "Journals" in the blue bar that runs along the top of the screen. Now choose "Journals Search" from the drop-down.

Click the "Free Text" field and type your search words into the box. The results below came from searching for: **"mens rea" manslaughter**

Click "Search"

Ways of narrowing down your results list

On the left of your search results, click on "Search within results". This will use your existing set of results as a base, then search for extra words you add within that existing set.

To only see results from an after a particular date, or from a particular period of time, click on "date" down the left of your results list.

The list of topics may already be visible next to your results. If it isn't, click on "topic" to display the list.

Here you are choosing what the topic of the displayed articles is. You can choose a top-level topic like "crime" or click on the plus symbol to see smaller topics.

The number on the right shows you how many of the articles in your current results list have this topic. Click on a topic to select it.

Sometimes there won't be a link to the full text of an article. You may still be able to access the article via Lexis+ or LibrarySearch but, if you're in a hurry, it can be frustrating to be shown things you can't read instantly.

To hide results that don't have their full text in Westlaw, click on "availability" down the left of your search results. Then choose "full text available".

Reading, saving and downloading articles

To read an article in your results list, click on "Full Text"

If you want to save this article to read offline, click on the download icon on the right of the article.

To save an article for later, click on the folder icon. [Learn more about how to use folders in Westlaw](https://scribehow.com/viewer/How_to_use_folders_to_save_documents_for_later_in_Westlaw__Is0V5g1YStmh6fTtfh1udA)

Extra options on the search page

Rather than doing a simple search then using the filters down the left of the results to narrow it down, you could specify more things in your initial search. That will then give you a more useful results list straightaway. Click "Journals" in the blue bar that runs along the top of the screen. Now choose "Journals Search" from the drop-down.

As before, click the "Free Text" field and add your search words.

Click the "Subject/Keyword" field. This is where you can add a topic.

Unlike the free text box, you have to pick from an existing list of options in the "subject/keyword" field. Start typing and options will appear. Click on an option to add it to your search.

Click "More options" under the search boxes to see some extra choices.

To only show results where the full text is in Westlaw, click "document type" and choose "full text".

To specify when your results date from, click on "Date" and choose an option.

When you've finished adding to your search, click "Search"