Doing Legal Research
Basic Legal Resources
Hello Researchers!
This guide is designed to help you start your Legal and Law & Society library research.
Just learning about a topic? Start with secondary sources like books or law review articles. Law review articles are the scholarly journal of the legal world and often contain citations to relevant cases and legislation on the topic at hand. Reading law review articles on your research topic can save you a lot of time.
LexisNexis Academic, Westlaw Campus, and HeinOnline contain the full text of law review articles. They also all have the full text of federal and state case law (court opinions) as well as other research tools including encyclopedias and other reference books.
For lower-level court transcripts, contact the original court for availability and ordering instructions. (Expect to pay a fee.) See newspapers/media coverage for additional information on cases that never made it to the appellate courts or beyond.
- LexisNexis Academic [UCSD Only]Thousands of full-text sources including newspapers, wires, transcripts, newsletters, magazines, trade journals; also industry news, company information, law reviews, court decisions. Reference titles include: American Jurisprudence 2d; Ballentine's Law Dictionary; Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations; A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage; Modern Dictionary for the Legal Profession; Martindale-Hubbell® Legal Professionals Listings; Martindale-Hubbell® Law School Directory
- WestlawNext [UCSD Only]Full text access to federal and state court cases, laws and regulations; legal periodicals and encyclopedias; European Union legal documents; and legal guides and information for pre-law students. Reference works include American Law Reports; American Jurisprudence 2d; Black's Law Dictionary.
- HeinOnline [UCSD Only]Full text of legal periodicals plus primary sources such as the Code of Federal Regulations; Federal Register; Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS); Treaties and Agreements Library; United States Code; U.S. Attorney General Opinions; U.S. Congressional Documents; U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions, and Appeals; U.S. Federal Legislative History Library; U.S. Statutes at Large; World Constitutions Illustrated
- Google ScholarIncludes full text of legal opinions from U.S. federal and state district, appellate and supreme courts.
- Legal Research in a Nutshell linksThis page provides links to websites discussed in Morris L. Cohen & Kent C. Olson, Legal Research in a Nutshell (West, 10th ed. 2010).
- WexWex is a free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Wex entries are collaboratively created and edited by legal experts.
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