Knowledge and Research Consultant Tip: Find more In-depth articles on your topics in the news

When looking for news articles that cover a topic more deeply than a mere mention, consider using one of the many segments available in the News content on Lexis® and Lexis+®.

The LENGTH segment, which refers to word count in the article, is particularly helpful for this use case. After retrieving your search result, you can add a LENGTH restriction to pull up feature news articles or more in-depth journal articles.

The category of “feature articles” in journalistic terms refers to an article that covers a topic or issue in greater depth than what one would normally find in a news piece. The length of a feature article can depend on the format of the publication (newspaper, magazine, journal, etc.) and the specific requirements of the publication. A good rule of thumb for a feature length article is 1000 words or more.

Here are a few examples of how to effectively use the LENGTH segment: 

1. Include LENGTH > 1000 as part of your initial search, especially when common sense tells you that searching News will generate a large result. If results are still too large, or if you’d rather get articles that are even more in-depth, use Search within as in #2 with a larger number.
   
   
2. Instead of or in addition to including a LENGTH segment in the initial search, use the Search within on your filters panel. You can start with 1000 or more (LENGTH > 1000 )
   
   
3. Whatever length you use in Search within, remember that you can always edit that number by editing the filter itself. Use the pencil icon in the filter box to edit.
   
   
   
   

Given that some publications may cover a topic with article lengths of 2000+, 3000+ and even more, use your judgment to decide how large the number of words should be.