LEXIS -NEXIS Political Universe User Guide for Professional, Deep Research

LEXIS -NEXIS Political Universe User Guide for Professional, Deep Research Using Incredible Power to Transform Your Web-based Research When you want a single political product that offers a broad scope, news and Web linking, relational searching, and insightful reporting capabilities, LEXIS -NEXIS Political Universe is your single option. Contents Signing on to... 2 Selecting an Information Tool Based on Your Information Needs... 2 Navigating through... 3 Constructing Searches... 3 Viewing and Browsing Results... 9 Refining Your Results... 9 Viewing Related Topics... 10 Delivering Documents... 10 Managing Information with Custom Reports... 11 Saving Searches for Automatic Updates... 13 Retrieving Late-Breaking Information... 14 Obtaining Help... 14 With it, you can access federal and state political and governmental information, as well as news, U.S. demographics, event calendars, and legislative tracking. Employing a specialized relational database, the Custom Reports tool allows you to create thorough political reports, including analysis, with a few keystrokes. gives you the perspective you need to prepare for the political future, to analyze political votes, and to equip your organization for upcoming legislation everything you need to do the job and to do it right! LEXIS -NEXIS POLITICAL UNIVERSE Your legislative world on the Web

❷ ➊ Signing On to To sign on to the LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe service: 1. Type http://www.lexis-nexis.com/poluniv in your Web browser s address line and press ENTER 2. Type your ID and password* 3. Click the SIGN-ON button * If your LEXIS-NEXIS ID appears to contain the letters O or L, substitute the number 0 (zero) or 1 (one). Selecting an Information Tool Based on Your Information Needs Information needs vary, so to accommodate these varying needs, incorporates multiple information tools that help you accomplish your research objectives: Retrieve business-critical information through on-demand searches in Search. Track relevant subjects and issues by creating topics in Personal News. Keep up-to-date through the CNN U.S. News Headlines featured in Top News. Analyze mission-critical information to enable better, more effective decision making with Custom Reports. LEXIS-NEXIS POLITICAL UNIVERSE SIGN-ON PAGE ➊ Your name appears on the homepage. ❷ Select an information tool based on your information needs. 2

Navigating through Toolbars simplify navigation within LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe: Return to the previous screen or level using the BACK function on your Web-browser toolbar or within a Web-browser menu. Move between information tools (i.e. Personal News, Custom Reports, etc.) or return to the homepage using the main (light blue) toolbar at the top of the page. Select available information tool options using the horizontal navy toolbar at the top of the page. Constructing Searches Selecting A Search Subject With, you select subject areas rather than sources, so you do not have to worry about whether you have captured all the right sources for your information needs. ➊ ❷ ❸ A WELCOME PAGE REVEALS THE SEVEN CATEGORIES OF SERVICE. KEY NAVIGATIONAL AIDS WITHIN LEXIS-NEXIS POLITICAL UNIVERSE ➊ Return to your previous screen. (BACK) ❷ Navigate between information tools. (Main toolbar) ❸ Select available information tool options. (Navy toolbar) NOTE: This toolbar s components differ from information tool to information tool. Select Congress to access information about legislation, votes, committees, transcripts, and members. (This category is the Web-based equivalent of the LEGIS database within the classic interface of the LEXIS-NEXIS services.) Select Executive Branch to access papers and other materials, laws, and regulations related to the executive branch of government, including the President s office. (This category is the Web-based equivalent of the EXEC database within the classic interface of the LEXIS-NEXIS services.) Select The States to access state-level legislation, regulations, and news. (This category is the Web-based equivalent of the state files in the LEGIS database and portions of the STATES database within the classic interface of the LEXIS-NEXIS services.) 3

Select Campaign Trail to stay on top of events related to elections, political polls, and campaign finance. (This category is the Web-based equivalent of the CMPGN database within the classic interface of the LEXIS-NEXIS services.) Select News and Company for precise information on world news and company data from 20 years ago to yesterday. (This category provides selected access to the NEWS* and COMPNY databases found in the classic interface of the LEXIS-NEXIS services.) Select Demographics for comprehensive data on U.S. demographics by zip code, congressional district, state, etc. (This category is the Web-based equivalent of the GEODEM database within the classic interface of the LEXIS-NEXIS services.) Select Reference to access critical directories, almanacs, congressional procedures, and more. *Traditional Web exclusions apply. Forms-Based Searching The Search tool provides easy-to-complete search forms that access key political and news information from the LEXIS-NEXIS services. Once you choose a category to search, you will see the first search form in a hierarchy. The complete hierarchy appears on the left side of the Web page. To open a search form related to one of the subtopics, click the subtopic. Each search form (and associated Help) is customized to the individual subtopic in the hierarchy and provides an intuitive, fill-in-the-blank interface that leads you step-by-step through the search creation process. Constructing Searches Once you select a subject area, the following tips can help you construct an effective search, no matter what the subject or subtopic. Keep in mind that: is not case sensitive. Asterisks denote that fields are mandatory. will find both the singular and plural forms of words that have regular plurals (those ending in s, es, or ies ) regardless of which form you enter. For instance, entering either the word campaign or the word campaigns will retrieve campaign, campaigns, campaign s, and campaigns. Tips For Using Search Forms The following general steps for searching on apply to all search categories although some forms may have specific requirements or options. 1. Select the appropriate alternative from the drop-down menus by clicking the arrow next to these fields. 2. Type your search terms or phrases in the fill-in-the blank fields. 3. Add precision and flexibility to your search by using the following optional search tools: AND searches for two search words simultaneously OR looks for either term and is particularly effective when searching for synonyms or related words AND NOT rejects documents that contain a specific word or phrase W/N locates search terms within a certain number (N) of words of each other W/P looks for documents with search words in the same paragraph W/S retrieves documents with search words in the same sentence PRE/N finds documents with both words, only if the first word precedes the second by a certain number (N) of words 4

* holds the place of one character! holds the place of an infinite number of characters at the end of a word s root (NOTE: You cannot start a search term with either an * or!) 4. Set the date parameters of your search (when applicable) by selecting an option from the drop-down list or by setting your own criteria in the From and To fields. 5. Add other required search terms or phrases in the Keywords or similar, optional fields 6. Click the Search button to initiate your search or the Clear Form button to clear the search form s fields. NOTE: If your search is too broad, you will receive a message indicating you will retrieve more than 1000 documents. Edit your search to make it more specific by adding search terms, tightening your date restriction, or selecting a more specific source. Consult the Viewing and Browsing Results section of this guide for assistance in reviewing your results or the Navigating through section for navigation tips. Related Search Forms Below some search forms on LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe, you will discover a section called Related Search Forms, under which are links to associated search and custom report options. This feature lets you identify relevant search capabilities and navigate there quickly. Searching the Congressional Hierarchy Once you select Congress as your search area, you will see a range of individual topics for your research. Bill Tracking (default): discover the status and review the content of any bill pending in Congress or any bill from a previous Congress. CONSTRUCT A BILL-TRACKING SEARCH. ➊ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ➏ ➏ ➊ Search by an individual Congress or all Congresses, by individual chamber or both Chambers, by bill number, or by sponsor or co-sponsor. (Congress, etc.) Click here to review helpful search tips. (Tips) Enter additional terms to refine your search. (Keywords, Synopsis etc.) Select a date option or enter a specific date. (Date) Click the Examples button for sample formats. Identify your research for internal tracking purposes. (Client ID) Select related search forms to develop custom reports. (Form titles) Select from the following search forms to construct your search: Full Text of Bills: capture any or all full-text versions of a particular House or Senate bill from the current Congress or previous Congresses. Bill Forecasts: find the statistical odds for a bill s passage through the stages of the legislative process. Committee Reports: locate details of a bill s progress in committee, including how the bill was amended, what amendments were adopted or rejected, the estimated cost of programs proposed in the legislation, and the minority and majority opinions. ❸ ❹ ❺ ❷ Committee Markups & Votes: retrieve detailed summaries of markups held on a bill, including ballots for any votes held during the markup. 5

Committees: retrieve information for all select, joint, and standing committees (and their respective subcommittees) for the current Congress and past Congresses. Committee Prints: find the full text of select research documents that cover a range of public interest topics and that committee staff, the Congressional Research Service, or outside consultants have prepared. Hearings: locate the full text of officially submitted, written testimony from all Congressional hearings or verbatim transcripts of select committee hearings, as well as summaries of select committee hearings. Floor Votes: learn how a member voted on a piece of legislation, or discover the outcome of a vote on a particular issue. Committee Votes: retrieve select, recorded fullcommittee votes from the 101st and 102nd Congresses that summarize the amendment or measure being voted on, the sponsor of the vote motion, a complete list of cast ballots by party, and a breakdown of yeas and nays by party. Members: review member profiles, legislative profiles, or members financial disclosures. Congressional Record: access Congressional Record documents, including transcripts of activities, debates, Extension of Remarks, and daily summaries of proceedings on the floors of the House and Senate, back to the 99th Congress. CIS Index: retrieve abstracts of Congressional committee hearings, prints, reports, and documents, as well as CIS-prepared legislative histories of all public laws enacted since 1970. Legislative Histories: locate histories of key U.S. public laws, including abstracts of the hearings, reports, prints, and cited documents prepared by Congressional Information Service (CIS). Schedules: retrieve daily and weekly listings of committee hearings, press conferences, agency meetings, and other events in the Washington, D.C. area. Searching the Executive Branch Hierarchy Public Laws (default): find the full text of a public law by accessing public laws (acts and joint resolutions) enacted by Congress. U.S. Code: review the United States Code Service, an annotated version of the United States Code. Federal Register: search full-text Federal Register documents, the official vehicle for making the regulations and legal notices issued by the federal agencies and departments available to the public. Reg. Tracking: access summaries of proposed federal regulations and status actions for individual regulations. CFR: retrieve full-text titles from the Code of Federal Regulations. Budget: locate the text of the President s budget proposal for each fiscal year, including the specific budget and policy recommendations outlined in the President s State of the Union address. Pres. Documents: review the full-text, weekly compilation of Presidential documents and the Annual Public Papers of the Presidents. Agency Documents: find press statements, studies, and reports released by the federal departments and agencies of the U.S. government. CBD: access Commerce Business Daily, the daily publication that covers the U.S. government s purchases, sales, and contract awards. Documents: access House and Senate executive communications from the President of the United States to Congress. 6

Searching The States Hierarchy Bill Tracking (default): obtain a short synopsis and legislative chronology of bills from all 50 states for the current and past sessions. Consult the full text of the bill for any language changes. Bill Text: retrieve full-text bills from all 50 states for the current and past sessions. Review the entire text of the bill for changes. California Committees: locate reports written by the staffs of the California legislative committees. Reg. Tracking: find summaries of proposed regulations and status actions for regulations (issued by a specific agency or related to your area of interest) from all 50 states. Proposed Regs.: review full-text proposals, notices, adopted regulations, rules, and other information from Boards, commissions, departments, and offices in all 50 states. Statutes: search the full text of all laws enacted by the 50 states legislatures. Admin. Code: find the full text of state administrative codes from select states. State Registers: retrieve the full text of recent regulatory law (as proposed by various state agencies), including summaries of proposed, adopted, withdrawn, and emergency regulations; open meetings information; and other information from boards, commissions, departments, or offices of the state from select states. Issue Briefs: locate legislative overviews from the current NCSL LegisBriefs and the archival State Issue Briefs that highlight major legislation and pertinent regulations in specific issue areas. State Calendar: Retrieve the current-year, legislative session status calendar. Searching the Campaign Trail Hierarchy AP News (default): find Associated Press stories on election events, speeches, position papers, endorsements; results of polls, primaries, conventions, caucuses, and elections; and calendars of election events, political status reports, and more. The Name field (e.g., kerrey W/2 bob) is mandatory. Campaign News: locate news stories related to national and local campaigns. Press Materials: retrieve campaign press releases, transcripts, or position papers from presidential campaigns by typing the candidate s name into the mandatory Candidate Name field. Bios: search The New York Times, The Washington Post, and/or Associated Press (AP) bios about players in the political arena, including key international players. Polls & Surveys: review actual data from opinionpolling sources, such as Gallup, Harris, Roper, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal, by entering a mandatory topic (e.g., gun control). Candidate Summaries: review financial figures, such as total receipts, individual contributions, candidate contributions, total disbursements, individual refunds, candidate loan repayments, beginning cash-on-hand, latest cash-on-hand, and debts owed for each candidate. Receipts: obtain a report of contributions made to a candidate by both individuals and Political Action Committees (PACs). Contributions: access a report of contributions made to a candidate by Political Action Committees (PACs). PAC Summaries: retrieve a Political Action Committee (PAC) financial summary report as issued by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). FEC (Federal Election Commission) Opinions: research a database of responses to requests for clarification on topics subject to federal election law. Type search words and/or phrases, along with any appropriate connectors, into the mandatory Keywords field. 7

FEC Releases: retrieve documents released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that cover presidential, senatorial, and congressional races. The Keywords field is mandatory. State Finance: obtain a report of financial receipts for a candidate (archived or current) running for the California Legislature, Governor, Attorney General, and other statewide offices. In New York, check on receipts for registered candidates (archived state races 1985-95) seeking election to the state-level Assembly, Lieutenant Governor, Campaign Committees, Senate, Comptroller, Governor, and Attorney General offices. Voter Registrations: access the voter registration records from six states (Alaska, Delaware, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oklahoma) and the District of Columbia. AP Results: review the results of congressional, senatorial, gubernatorial, and presidential races since 1994. AP Bios: locate biographical and campaign information on presidential, vice presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial candidates, as well as candidates (and anticipated candidates) for major offices. Searching the News & Company Hierarchy NOTE: Check the Restrict search to major stories about the topic box to narrow your results so that your search terms must appear in the headline or lead paragraph of the target article. Remove the check mark if you want to retrieve documents with any mention of your search terms. All News (default): search current or archived news on a topic or an issue. Regional News: access news articles from all 50 states. National Journal Group: locate articles from National Journal Group Publications, such as The Hotline, Congress Daily, and National Journal. Company Profiles: retrieve financial and other information about a company, such as its location, the names of its executives, and much more. Select individual sources or All Company Information from the Report Type drop-down menu. Company News: review news about a company by typing the name into the mandatory Company Name field. Industry News: find articles about industry forecasts, industry trends, and industry-shaping forces. Select an industry type from the drop-down menu, and type your search words into the mandatory Topic field. People News: find background information on a politician, movie star, sports professional, or other person in the news. The Last Name field is mandatory. Product News: locate information on all types of products. The Product Name field is mandatory. Searching the Demographics Hierarchy Use the Demographics search forms to find demographic data, (such as population, age, income, sex, familystructure, and employment) compiled from more than 1,600 local government, private, and Census Bureau sources. By State: search and organize information by state. By Zip: search and organize information by zip code. By Congressional District: search and organize information by Congressional District number. By County: search and organize information by county. Workplace Info: retrieve statistics about a specific geographic area s workplace population and resident population, as well as its employees, businesses, and business locations by major industry. 8

Searching the Reference Hierarchy Directories (default): locate players in the political arena, and retrieve their names, addresses, phone numbers, and in some cases, biographical information from a drop-down menu of sources. Member Profiles: find biographical information on members of Congress (including those members in Washington, D.C.), and locate home district addresses, staff members, educational background, spouse s name, and military activity, in addition to committee and caucus memberships. ➊ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ➏ Congressional Rules: review the parliamentary rules and procedures that govern the activities of the U.S. Congress. Plum Book: access over 1,600 plum positions classified in the legal profession within the federal government. U.S. Government Manual: retrieve comprehensive information on legislative, judicial, executive branch, and quasi-official agencies, as well as international organizations with U.S. participation. Viewing and Browsing Results Several intuitive features make viewing and browsing results easy in. Index tabs help you quickly view documents in one of four standard display formats.* Radio buttons let you sort documents by default order or relevance. Arrows assist you in moving between documents or results pages. Scrollbars allow you to browse a particular document or page. * Available display formats may differ from information tool to information tool. TOGGLE BETWEEN DIFFERENT DISPLAY FORMATS BY CLICKING THE APPROPRIATE TAB. ➊ View a document list, the default viewing format. (Document List) ❷ See your search terms and a small amount of surrounding text in a document list. (Expanded List) ❸ Review larger document excerpts that focus on your highlighted search terms and surrounding text. (KWIC ) ❹ Display the full-text document. (Full) ❺ Organize your documents in the default sorting option. (Sort by Default varies by search form) ➏ Arrange your documents based on search term frequency and position. (Sort by Relevance) Refining Your Results You can refine your search through the FOCUS feature or the More Like This feature. Conducting a Search Within a Search Using the FOCUS Feature Select FOCUS from the navy toolbar. Type your additional search words or phrases in the FOCUS field. Include your original search terms in the FOCUS query if you also wish to see these terms highlighted in your answer set. Press the FOCUS button. Review your results. Use the Web browser s BACK function to return to your original results. 9

Viewing Related Topics ➊ makes legislative research easy by providing links in news and legislative documents. When you complete a news search, a View Related Topics link will appear. Click that link to view related legislative articles on both the state and federal levels. Alternatively, when you complete a legislative search on either the federal or state level, you can link to Related News Search within the applicable documents in your answer set. USE MORE LIKE THIS TO RETRIEVE SIMILAR DOCUMENTS. ➊ Click here to initiate a search. (More Like This) Locating Similar Documents with More Like This The More Like This feature helps you locate up to 25 more documents like the one you are currently viewing. To use More Like This, follow the steps below: 1. Click the corresponding More Like This link for any document that interests you. 2. Review your results. 3. Use the Web browser s BACK function to return to your original results set. NOTE: The More Like This feature is turned off on the following forms: Congress; Bill Forecasts, Congress; Schedules, The States; State Calendar, The States; Bill Tracking, Campaign Trail; Contributions, Campaign Trail; PAC Summaries, Campaign Trail; Polls & Surveys Demographics; Workplace Info; and Reference Plum Book. Delivering Documents The service offers the following three, easy-to-use, timesaving delivery options: Print, Download, and E-mail. (NOTE: Distribution is subject to the Terms and Conditions of your subscription). Follow the steps outlined below to deliver your documents: Printing Documents Select Print/Save Options from the navy toolbar, regardless of the format displayed. Click Display Document in Full or KWIC to display the document you want to print or save. In Document List or Expanded List, select the citations for printing or saving and click Display Citations. Select File from your Web browser s menu; then choose Print. Click OK. E-Mailing Documents Tag the documents you want to deliver by clicking in the small boxes preceding them in either the Document List or Expanded List view, or choose a single article in KWIC or Full. Remove any unwanted tags by clicking again in the appropriate tagged box. Clear all tags by clicking the Clear All Citations link. 10

Select E-Mail from the navy toolbar. Fill in the requested information regarding delivery format, e-mail address, etc. Click E-Mail. Downloading Documents Select Print/Save Options from the navy toolbar. Click on Display Document in Full or KWIC. Enter the citations you wish to print, or tag documents by clicking in the small boxes preceding them in the Document List or Expanded List view. Choose the format of your results and click Display Citations. Select File from your Web browser s menu; then choose Save As. Select a folder and type in a file name; then click Save. Managing Information with Custom Reports The Custom Reports tool offers a totally dynamic approach to information usage, going beyond gathering information to creating intelligent analyses. With this tool, users search a relational database of federal legislative and campaign finance information to create custom reports that include data about bills, votes, members, PAC contributions, candidate receipts, and individual contributions. Custom Reports search forms are more dynamic than the standard search forms, allowing you to customize your answer sets. You can download reports in a text or Microsoft Excel format. Delivery options are the same as those for a general search in Search. How Custom Reports Apply to You Custom Reports can help you: Identify Congressional members to target in your lobbying efforts Discover how a particular state s senators have been voting during a particular timeframe Find out which candidates are receiving money from what organizations Report on campaign contributions in any state GENERATE A REPORT OF BILLS BASED ON THE SEARCH CRITERIA YOU SELECT. Using Custom Reports Enter search words or phrases in at least one of the fields on the search form, as well as in any mandatory fields. Enter a bill by first selecting the type of bill from the drop-down menu and by then typing the bill number. Click Add. Find sponsors or co-sponsors by entering the full name in the last name, first name format or by using the last name only. (Check for multiple spellings using the OR connector.) Follow these general formats when searching by keywords using connectors: OR AND AND NOT e.g., black OR white e.g., black AND white e.g., black AND NOT white NOTE: Quotation marks must surround your terms when you use the AND or AND NOT connectors. If you do not use quotation marks with AND and AND NOT, the search will run on the whole phrase. Select how you want to view the reports by checking the appropriate boxes in the Options field (e.g., Synopsis, Committee Referrals, etc.). Click Search. 11

Available Custom Reports Bills (default): create a customized report on legislation. Choose the report sections from a list of available options. Votes: learn how individual members have voted on specific legislation by generating a customized report. Produce a report that identifies which members support or oppose a particular piece of legislation by placing a check mark in the ballot preferences box. In the resulting report, you can click on members names to send an immediate e-mail to them, to visit their homepages on the Web, or to access other contact information. Co-sponsors: discover who is behind specific legislation by creating a customized report. Check the sponsorship preferences box in the Options field to develop a report that shows which members support or oppose selected legislation. Members: create a customized report about a member of Congress or a group of Congressional members. Search using any field, and choose report sections from a list of available options. Information about members is updated at the beginning of each Congress and as changes occur. RETRIEVE A REPORT ON ANY CONGRESSIONAL MEMBER. Use this form to retrieve: Election and personal information A biography Committee assignments Personal and district staff Recent and key votes Selected floor remarks and bills sponsored Detailed campaign receipt summary PAC Contributions: determine Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions made to candidates running for federal office by searching for either the PAC name or PAC sponsor when creating a customized report. Individual Contributions: generate a customized report of contributions that individuals have made to a candidate running for federal office. You must search by the contributor s name using either the last name, first name format or the last name only. Receipts: create a customized report that includes individual contributions, Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions, or both to a candidate or group of candidates. Use the Options field to select the report sections you want. 12

Saving Searches for Automatic Updates With, you have the power to receive customized information updates at your desktop through Personal News. Use this tool to track political activity, such as legislation, regulations, campaign activity, and more. Personal News searches can be established against any and all content in including state legislation and regulations! NOTE: Personal News searches cannot be set up in the Custom Reports area of. NOTE: You can set up Personal News searches even if you have no search results from the original search. Retrieving a Personal News Topic s Results Once you save a search for automatic updates, you will want to retrieve the results. You can choose to receive notification of updates via e-mail. Click the link within each e-mail alert to return to LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe quickly and easily for viewing new results. To view a Personal News topic in LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe, simply: 1. Click the Personal News link on the LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe homepage or on the main toolbar 2. Choose a Personal News topic from the left sidebar 3. Select the results set you want to view NOTE: Personal News provides an archive for each saved topic. Editing a Personal News Topic To edit a Personal News topic, select it from the left sidebar, and then follow the appropriate steps below. 1. Choose the navy toolbar s Edit Topic option. 2. Click Edit Topic to change the topic s name, update schedule, or delivery option. 3. Click Edit Search to change the search parameters. SAVE A SEARCH FOR AUTOMATIC UPDATES. Saving a Search as a Personal News Topic offers two ways to set up automatic updates for a search by saving it as a Personal News topic. You can run a search within Search, and click the navy toolbar s Save to Personal News option. You can click the Personal News link on the LEXIS-NEXIS Universe homepage, construct a search, and use the Save to Personal News option. After you construct a search using one of these two options, a page will appear and offer you simple schedule and delivery options. Enter a name for your topic and complete the form. Click Save. Deleting a Personal News Topic To delete a Personal News topic, select it from the left sidebar, and then follow the steps below. 1. Choose the navy toolbar s Edit Topic option. 2. Click the Delete Topic button at the bottom of the page. 13

Retrieving Late-Breaking Information Accessing Headline News in Top News When you first sign on to LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe, your homepage is the Top News page. Here, you can scan the headlines to daily top CNN news stories, which are updated throughout the day. To read the complete article, click the Full Story link below the headline. To return to, use your Web browser s BACK function. Obtaining Help provides an extensive online help manual, which is easily accessible from any point in the service. Click Help on the main toolbar to access the Knowledge Base and additional information, which can help you with: Finding information on LEXIS-NEXIS Political Universe Reviewing the extensive source list Understanding the legislative process Defining political terms Using the Knowledge Base The Knowledge Base gives you online access to the collective intelligence of the LEXIS-NEXIS team of professional searchers (Customer Service experts, information professionals, and other industry consultants). From the Main Help Contents page, click the Knowledge Base link to access this special help tool. Use your Web browser s BACK function to return to the previous page or section. CLICK THE FULL STORY LINK TO READ THE FULL-TEXT ARTICLE ON THE CNN INTERACTIVE SITE (CNN.COM). CLICK A TOPIC OR LETTER TO ACCESS HELPFUL RESEARCH TIPS. 14

Using the Source List offers a source list and an update schedule for its sources, providing you with the information you need to identify an appropriate schedule for searching or for reviewing Personal News searches. Simply click on Help and then select Source List from Main Help Contents to review a table of sources. To learn more about all the sources on the LEXIS-NEXIS services, visit our new Web-based Source Locator at http://www.lexis-nexis.com/lncc/sources/. Using How Do I Find? offers easy-to-use assistance for finding special types of information, even when you do not know what forms to use or what categories would address your topics. 1. Click Help on the main toolbar or at the bottom of any document. 2. Select How Do I Find? from the Main Help Contents page. 3. Browse the topics, and click the link that best identifies the information you need. Using the Glossary of Political Terms For a quick definition of political-related terms, click on the initial letter of the word you are seeking under the Glossary of Political Terms option on the Main Help Contents page. Then scroll through the text or use your Web browser s Find feature to locate the definition you need. For personalized search assistance virtually 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, contact LEXIS-NEXIS Customer Service at 1-800-543-6862. To schedule a FREE telephonic training consultation on, contact our Telephonic Consulting & Training department at 1-800-227-9597, Ext. 1667, or 937-865-6800, Ext. 1667. Using the Legislative Overview Click The Legislative Process link on the Main Help Contents page to find a detailed overview of how the legislative process works. Using the List of Links Click the List of Links link on the Main Help Contents page to find addresses (URLs) for helpful Web sites related to legislation and politics. 15

http://www.lexis-nexis.com/poluniv LEXIS and NEXIS are registered trademarks and the INFORMATION ARRAY logo, KWIC and FOCUS are trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other products or services may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. 2000 LEXIS-NEXIS Group All rights reserved. 9443 Springboro Pike Miamisburg, Ohio 45342 U.S.A. NX554-0 0100