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State Statutes: A Historical Archive

A valuable source of information for researchers and scholars to explore and understand the creation of historical state statutes.

Searching

Main Search Bar Tips

  • The main search bar is stationary throughout HeinOnline
  • Once inside State Statues: A Historical Archive, the search bar will search within only this database
  • 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

State Statutes search bar

 

Using the Main Search Bar

  • For example, enter the phrase "probate law" inside quotation marks into the search bar and select Just search for
  • Use the facets on the left side of the page to narrow your results by Date, Section Type, Title, or State Published
  • 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

image of options to refine your search and save documents within the State Statutes database

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, State, or Description
    • Add another search field if three isn't enough
  • Pick a title by citation to search within
  • Restrict results within a date range

image of the advanced search options within the State Statutes database

 

Further refine your results, if needed, using the search facets on the left-hand side of the results pages and sort how your results are displayed

image of search results in the State Statutes database​​​​​​​

 

 

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

Screenshot of Venn Diagram example

 

 

  • 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:
    • "new york" AND california
    • "new york" AND probate
    • california AND probate
    • the terms "new york", california, and probate individually
  • Sort the results, save or export, turn to the specific page of a result, or start at the beginning of a given title