Skip to Main Content
HeinOnline

Scottish Legal History: Featuring Publications of the Stair Society

An extensive collection containing nearly eight centuries of unique legal research materials and publications from the Stair Society.

Searching

Main Search Bar Tips

  • The main search bar is stationary throughout HeinOnline
  • Once inside the Scottish Legal History database, 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

 

Using the Main Search Bar

  • For example, enter the phrase "Scottish Reformation" inside quotation marks into the search bar
    • Select where you want to search for this phrase: 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

  • Use the facets on the left side of the page to narrow your results by Date, Document Type, Title, Country Published, or Subjects
  • Terms matching the search query appear in bold text within the matching text page snippets
  • Sort search results by relevance, volume date, or title
  • Save to your MyHein account, 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

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, or Date
    • Add another search field if three isn't enough
  • Select a subcollection to search within, Ctrl + click to select multiple subcollections, or search in all
  • Pick a title by citation to search within
  • Restrict results within a date range and change how results are sorted

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
     



 

  • 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:
    • Covenanters AND "Solemn League
    • "Solemn League" AND "Marston Moor"
    • Covenanters AND "Marston Moor
    • the terms Covenanters, "Solemn League" and "Marston Moor" individually
  • Sort the results, save or export, turn to the specific page of a result, or start at the beginning of a given title