Skip to Main Content
HeinOnline

Civil Rights and Social Justice

This database covers civil rights in the United States as their legal protections and definitions are expanded to cover more and more Americans.

Searching

Main Search Bar Tips

  • The main search bar is stationary throughout HeinOnline
  • Once inside the Civil Rights Library, the search bar will search only within this database, unless the Search All Databases box is ticked
  • Need something more robust? Click Advanced Search to perform a search using custom drop downs
  • Need a refresher on how to construct a perfect search? Click Search Help for a quick reference guide to commonly used search syntax

image of database homepage for Civil Rights and Social Justice

 

Using the Main Search Bar

  • For example, enter the phrase “voting rights” inside quotation marks into the search bar
    • Select where you want to search for your query: as an Author, appearing in the Title of any document or article, as a Citation, or in our Catalog as a title. Want to see your search in any of these fields, or appearing in the full text of a document? Select Just search for

image of one-box search options

  • Use the facets on the left side of the page to narrow your results by Date, Document Type, Section Type, Subjects, or Title
  • Terms matching the search query appear in bold text within the matching text page snippets
  • Sort search results by relevance, volume date, and title
  • Save to your MyHein, email a result, display download options, or download a PDF using the icons on the right side of each search result.
  • Use the icons next to the sort-by bar to modify your current search, to search within results, to toggle all matching text pages, or to turn OFF infinite scroll

image of search results in the Civil Rights and Social Justice database for "voting rights"

 

Using Advanced Search

  • Click Advanced Search to be taken to a page with custom facets to help maximize your research within this collection
  • Use the drop downs to choose a variety of ways to search: Text, Title, Creator/Author, Description
    • Add another search field if three isn't enough
  • Select a subcollection to search within, Ctrl + click to select multiple subcollections, or search all
  • Pick a title by citation to search within
  • Restrict results within a date range and change how results are sorted

image of search results within the Civil Rights and Social Justice database showcasing ability to refine, sort, and save documents

About Venn Diagram Search

  • Venn Diagram Search offers a visual representation of how search terms interact with each other
  • Helps users both refine their current search terms and become better researchers going forward
  • Find the link to Venn Diagram Search on the Advanced Search page
  •  Searches are constructed by stringing together multiple terms separated by the Boolean operator "AND," with phrases grouped together in quotation marks

veenn diagram

  • Results on the right side of the page pertain to the search as we originally constructed it (represented by the red slice in the center of the intersecting circles)
  • Select Clear for the ability to hover over the different segments of the diagram and see all possible search term combinations from our original query.  
  • In our example, we can see results for:
    • employment AND disability
    • disability AND "reasonable accommodation"
    • employment AND "reasonable accommodation" 
    • the terms employment, disability, and "reasonable accommodation" individually
  • Sort the results, save or export, turn to the specific page of a result, or start at the beginning of a given title