Many lawyers don’t understand the ins and outs of search like they think they do, so kudos to ProSearch for providing these tech tips in document search!

Their post Tech Tips in Document Search (available here), written by Caitlin Wilhelm, a Linguistic Data Analyst at ProSearch, identifies several of the ProSearch team’s favorite tips and tricks to improve searching in dtSearch, which is their primary search system and the most popular search engine used by eDiscovery platforms.

Caitlin begins with a “few key concepts in eDiscovery search to keep in mind”:

• Search and retrieval vary across systems—understanding exactly how information is indexed and how search functions operate in a given system is essential.
• Search in discovery has a different intent than internet or knowledge base searching and therefore requires different skills.
• Keywords, without refinement and testing, are both under-and over-inclusive.
• Search term development should be a qualitative process. Quality is measured through an iterative process that includes testing and sampling.
• Search terms, when used appropriately with a sound methodology, can yield good results.
• Defensibility requires a sound methodology and a documented process.

I couldn’t agree more with her points above, especially the fourth one about testing and sampling. Caitlin then proceeds to discuss in-depth “the ProSearch team’s favorite tips and tricks to improve searching in dtSearch”. To learn about those tech tips in document search, check out her article here!

So, what do you think? Do you feel like you fully understand keyword search for eDiscovery? You may realize after reading Caitlin’s article that you don’t know as much as you think! Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclosure: ProSearch is an Educational Partner and sponsor of eDiscovery Today

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