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Social Sciences Librarian
Getting Started on Legal Research
- Start from what you know. Did a news story, video clip or article interest you? What information can you pull from the news source?
- Find and read secondary sources to get a basic grasp of the area of law you are interested in. Look for a review related to your topic, case and specific issues. Look up law reviews in a legal database like NexisUni, HeinOnline or Westlaw. Pay attention for key words or citations you can follow up on.
- Locate your case in a legal database, using either the case name or case citation. Try Google Scholar case law, and then navigate to the library databases.
- Find the written decisions of your case. See terminology of decision.
- The text of a decision usually includes a brief summary of the facts, a discussion of relevant laws, the court’s reasoning and orders. Decision is often used interchangeably with “judgment”, “ruling”, and “order”.
- Try to figure out what the case is about from a legal point of view. What legal issues will you need to research?
- Search through this research guide to help you sort through all the material that is available.
- Find the rules on how to create and understand legal citations. See Bluebook Citation and Indigo Citation.
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This work by the Reed College Library is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY Attribution 4.0 International License.
