Reference Tools in Print
Black's Law Dictionary. KF156.B53 (Reference)- For definitions of legal terms and more. Note: This title is also available electronically on Westlaw Campus
through the upper-left Content List.
Burton's Legal Thesaurus. KF156.B856 (Reference) - Consult when you want to expand on your choice of vocabulary. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. KF154.W47 (Reference) - A law encyclopedia for the layman or non-law specialist. Note: To access the electronic version of West's American Jurisprudence 2d (lawyer's encyclopedia), go to
Westlaw Campus and click on Table of Contents link (middle of screen) to browse.
National Survey of State Laws. 5th edition. KF386.N38 (Reference) - A state-by-state comparison of controversial U.S. legal topics based on statute availability; subject categories include: business/consumer, criminal, education, employment, family, general civil, real estate and tax.
Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Citations. KF246.P73 (Reference) - A reference guide for attorneys, legal secretaries, paralegals, and law students Includes a 1996 reproduction of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation
Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations. KD400.R35 (Reference)- How to cite legal resources in virtually all formats; worldwide coverage.
Primary Legal Sources
CASES
Lexis-Nexis Academic - When the citation or parties to a case is known, select and enter appropriate information in case-name or case-number box. In the case of insufficient information or when a keyword search is needed to generate cases, enter search terms using the natural-language or terms-and-connectors mode (above search box); activate all pull-downs to make sure that you are making the best possible choice.
Additional instructions are available in the research guide Law Searching on LexisNexis Academic at Tips for Searching Case and Code Law. Horn Library has extensive runs of the U.S. Supreme Court and State of Massachusetts cases in print in the Reference Collection; these series were discontinued in 2003 and replaced with electronic formats.
LAWS
LexisNexis Professional - To search the federal public laws (Library: pubcon; File: publaw). To search both federal congressional bills and bill tracking (Library: legis; File: bills). Horn Library has a current subscription to the U.S. Congressional and Administrative News; the bound volumes, dating back to the early 1970's may be found in the Reference Collection; they contain federal public laws arranged by statute, with historical background and various indices or finding aids.
REGULATIONS
Lexis-Nexis Academic - When a keyword search is needed, click on Legal (in tool bar) and select Federal & State Codes (right-hand column). Enter search terms in either natural-language or terms-and-connectors mode (above search box). Activate all pull-downs to make sure that you are making the best possible choice. Horn Library does not actively collect regulations in paper format, including sections of the Code of Federal Regulations.
For more extensive treatment of the law, consider using Westlaw Campus (especially for locating cases on specific subjects) or LexisNexis Professional especially for specialized services and international coverage.
Using Legal News and Law Reviews on LexisNexis Academic Click on News (in tool bar) and set Select-Sources box to Legal News;
to access Law Reviews click on Legal (in tool bar).
Sample searches follow.
Sample searches in Legal News using terms-and-connectors:
- Type trade secrets and set pull-down to Headline, Lead Paragraphs & Indexing.
- On the second line, set pull-down to W/10, and type disclos!, setting next pull-down to Headline, Lead paragraphs & Indexing. (When you want a maximum of 10 words to come between trade secrets and any form of the root word disclos.)
- Below set datepull-down to All available dates.
|
- Type Non-competition agreement and set pull-down to Headline, Lead Paragraphs & Indexing.
- On second line set pull-down to within-the-same-paragraph and type enforceable, setting next pull-down to Headline, Lead paragraphs & Indexing (When you want the second search term to appear in the same paragraph as the first.)
- Below set date pull-down to All available dates.
|
Sample search in Law Reviews using natural-language:
- In Keyword box type Napster.
- In required-terms box type download music internet.
- Below set date pull-down to All available dates.
|
Sample search in Law Reviews using terms-and-connectors: - Type California and atleast3(money laundering) and not drugs. (atleast3=search terms appear at least X times in any given article; and not=excludes a search term.)
- Below set date pull-down to All available dates.
|
Finding Legal Content in Non-legal Databases
ProQuest - When you know the name of the case and want some information about the case. Advanced search example: Type Roe v. Wade and set pull-down to Document Title.
When you would like to turn up cases in a particular area of law, for an industry or on a specific aspect, do an Advanced and click on the Thesaurus to find subjects the indexers have assigned to articles.
To access the Thesaurus: - Set the pull-down to Subject
- Click on the Browse subjects link
- Click on Thesaurus link (at top of screen)
- Type in desired word or phrase
- Click Find Term
- When term appears, click Add to search
- If term does not appear, repeat above steps using a synonym or broader/narrower related word.
- Some helpful subjects follow:
- Law (also commercial law, constitutional law, contract law, criminal law, labor law, etc.)
- contracts
- litigation
- court decisions (also state court decisions, federal court decisions, supreme court decisions, tax court decisions)
- Sample Basic searches which combine two subjects:
- Type SU (contract law and court decisions)
- Type SU (insurance and court decisions)
- An alternative to subjects (or combine them with subjects), codes provide focused searching.
To access codes:
- Set the pull-down to Classification code
- Click on the link Browse classification codes
- Expand the codes by clicking on a category
- When the desired code is reached, click Add to search
If you want to get to the legal codes, the clicking sequence is: - Management function - 4000 Accounting, taxation & law - 4300 Law, 4310 Regulation, 4320 Legislation, 4330 Litigation
- Combining a legal code with one for industry or market, management function or geographic segment allows the searcher to cover a substantial cross-section of information.
- Sample Basic search:
- Type cc(43?? and 5160)
- ? is used as a place saver after 43 and enables the searcher to cover all 3 subsets of law category listed under 4300; 5160 is the code for transportation management. This search reflects a broad number of legal concerns in the transportation area.
RDS Bizsuite - Search both databases at once. Concept term pull-downs that are useful include distribution license, intellectual property, licensing agreements, litigation, and new laws. A sample search follows: - Set concept term to both distribution license and licensing agreements (Hold the control key down during the selection process if you want to select more than one concept term.)
- The selection circle to the right should read OR.
- Set the Industry to recording.
- If you want to narrow your search, add words to Words and phrases;for this search, you might add video.
Factiva - Combine Intelligent indexing (games software and regulation/government policy) with Free text (piracy or pirate). Search path: - Click on Industry, then expand (click on +) computers/electronics, then computing, then software, then applications software and scroll down to games software; click on the up arrow next to it to place the industry category in the Free text box (at top of screen).
- Click on Subject, then expand Corporate/industrial news and cursor down to Regulation/government policy; click the up arrow next to it to place the subject category in the Free text box.
- Make sure that AND is inserted each time you combine elements.
- In the Free text box limit your search to the headline by using the hd= formula.
- This is what your search statement will look like:
- in=igamsof AND ns=C13 AND (hd=piracy OR hd=pirates)
Combine Intelligent indexing terms (sporting goods stores and licensing agreements) - Click on Industry, then expand (click on +) Retail, then Specialty stores and cursor down to Sporting goods stores; click on up arrow to send it to the Free text box above.
- Click on Subject, then expand Corporate/industrial news, then Contracts/orders; cursor down to Licensing agreements and click on the up arrow to send it to the Free text box.
- Your search should look like this:
- in=i6540029 and ns=C334
Note: An alternate method to expanding categories is to first select a main category (in blue on left) and then type in your selection in the Find a (box). If you do not obtain any search results, revert to expanding categories to make sure that you don't miss anything. Expanded Academic ASAP - InfoTrac Web - Browsing legal subdivisions of topics (in the Subject guide mode) is the most useful search method.
A sample search follows: - Click on Subject Guide Search in menu bar.
- Type in commercial law and click on Search.
- To narrow commercial law, click on subdivisions.
- Browse the list for the following subdivisions (given in descending order of usefulness): Cases; Laws, regulations & rules
- etc.
- Click on the subdivision when you find it to access articles.
EBSCOhost (Business Source Complete) - Use the Thesaurus to find legal terms - Click on Thesaurus (top in green).
- Type desired term in the Browse for box; click Browse.
- Place checkmark in box next to term.
- Click Add (just above list of terms) to move term to Find box (above).
- If adding more than one term, you can also select the appropriate connector using the and pulldown (next to add button).
- Click Search.
- A sample of helpful subjects follows:
- Commercial law, criminal law, labor laws & legislation, legislation, contracts, judgments.
- Sample search using thesaurus search mode: (DE"BANKS & banking") and (DE"CREDIT CARD FRAUD")
- Use coding and intelligent indexing to:
- create a relevant subset of a database to provide you with the appropriate backdrop or focus/slant on a topic
- provide the answers to specific questions when you don't know what to ask, but know the general ballpark (i.e., Political, Economic, Social, Technological)
- cover broad areas
- provide an introduction to a topic
- begin an independent study or honors thesis
Internet Resources
FirstGov
- User-friendly portal for U.S. Federal Government information
- Keyword search and Information by Topic
- Tailors information to many audiences: Citizens (kids, parents, seniors, military & veterans, Americans Abroad, and more), Business & Nonprofits (small business, self-employed, nonprofits, corporations, foreign businesses in the U.S. and more), Government Employees (federal employees, military & veterans, state & local employees, tribal governments), and
Visitors to the U.S.
- Integrated alphabetical list of U.S. government departments and agencies (including state home pages)
- Tribal government link (bottom right) accesses an alphabetical list of 222 tribes, each with its own website
- Voted by Time Magazine as one of the 25 websites we can't live without.
FindLaw - Divides resources by audience; see tabs (top) for the Public and for Legal Professionals
- On the Legal Professionals page see Research the Law section, in particular cases & codes, forms & contracts (includes sample contracts by industry and type), law dictionary and municipal ordinances
Law Library Resource Xchange, LLC - Provides legal professionals with information on internet and technology-related issues
- Provides access to legal research, librarian resources, and legal technology; click on gray heading blocks (right-hand column) for comprehensive category breakdowns
Guide to Law Online - Prepared by the U.S. Law Library of Congress
- Provides access to worldwide government and law sources, as well as legal guides
- Includes links to individual countries, as well as searchable databases
- Provides selected access to law reviews, most of which are U.S. based
Legal Engine - Click on individual states for access to clusters of state legal links
The Law Page - Babson Law Professor Carolyn Hotchkiss constructed this page for use in conjunction with the courses she teaches
- Included are linked resources (with her comments) for Foundations of Business Law, Public International Law, and International Law for Business
|
