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KeyPoints State
June 2009

Advanced SEARCH TIP: Agency decisions—the searchless method

To gather federal agency decisions that cite a relevant CFR section, one little link is all you need.

Suppose you find a CFR section that squarely addresses your issue, and you want to retrieve Internal Revenue Service decisions that discuss the CFR section in detail. One way is to run a search (e.g., using the CFR citation as a search term) in various federal administrative databases.

But why bother?

Instead, click the Links tab of the CFR section you are viewing. Then click a link, if available, under Agency Opinions and Decisions on the Links tab. A list of agency decisions citing the CFR section is displayed in the right frame.

KeyCite® depth of treatment stars are available for the decisions of many agencies. Depth of treatment stars are displayed at the end of the citation and indicate the extent to which a citing decision discusses the regulation, with four stars indicating extended discussion and one star indicating a brief reference. This way, you can spot the "must reads" at a glance.