Search tip: Use UC Library Search to find books (including ebooks) available at the UC San Diego Library another UC campus or to request a book from libraries around the world. You can also use Circuit to find books in other San Diego libraries.
Search tip: Remember, though, that you're only searching basic cataloging information about the book (not the book contents itself) so keep your search general.
Begin with a keyword search, for example
supreme court AND guns
supreme court AND (guns OR "second amendment")
Bonus Search Tip: When you find a record for a book that looks useful, take a look at the subject headings. In UC Library Search , these subject headings are clickable links that run a new search. Searching by these subject headings may help find resources that don't turn up with an initial keyword search. They might also give you ideas of other search terms to use in your keyword search.
Reference works are also a good place to begin your research, as they generally provide background information and often cite longer, more authoritative research works on the topic.
Legal scholarship includes several types of specialized books:
Use UC Library Search to find books at UC San Diego and other UCs; some major treatises are included in Westlaw, Nexis Uni, and HeinOnline.
Use UC Library Search to search for encyclopedia, dictionary, and other reference entries by limiting search results to Resource Type: "Reference Entries." To find content that is available in ebooks and online resources, limit to "Available Online."
Alternately, use the Resource Type limit "Book Chapters" to find longer overviews.
A Dictionary of Law by
This best-selling dictionary is an authoritative and comprehensive source of jargon-free legal information. It contains over 4,700 entries that clearly define the major terms, concepts, processes, and the organization of the English legal system. Entries have been fully updated for this edition to incorporate the latest legislation, including entries on foreign national offenders, Police and Crime Commissioners, corporate manslaughter, and settlement agreements, and there is a useful Writing and Citation Guide that specifically addressesproblems and established conventions for writing legal essays and reports. Now providing more information than ever before, this edition features recommended web links for many entries, which are accessed and kept up to date via the Dictionary of Law companion website.Described by leading university lecturers as "the best law dictionary" and "excellent for non-law students as well as law undergraduates", this classic dictionary is an invaluable source of legal reference for professionals, students, and anyone else needing succinct clarification of legal terms.Focusing primarily on English law, it also provides a one-stop source of information for any of the many countries that base their legal system on English law.
Black's Law Dictionary
For more than a century Black's has been the gold standard for the language of law. Today it is the most widely cited law book in the world. Edited by Bryan A. Garner, the world's leading legal lexicographer, the 9th Edition is the most authoritative, comprehensive law dictionary ever published. It contains more than 45,000 terms and includes: 2,000 more terms than the 8th Edition and 19,000 more than the 7th Edition including click fraud, Code Adam, collaborative law, ecoterrorism, environmental tort, friendly subpoena, happy-slapping, honor crime, secret detention, Schumer box, and super precedent. The date when selected terms were first used in English-language contexts, especially in judicial opinions, Heightened accuracy, more than 200 lawyers around the country reviewed terms. Definitions of more than 1,000 law-related abbreviations and acronyms. Almost 3,000 quotations drawn from sources over five centuries. Alternate spellings or equivalent expressions for more than 5,300 terms and West Key Numbers.
Legal Research in a Nutshell by 
Legal Research by
Examples & Explanations: Legal Research is designed to meet the needs of law students who have come to expect that they will instantly receive answers to their questions. Rather than cataloging sources or outlining processes, this text starts where today's law students are when they realize they have a research problem. By that time, their research problem is not locating sources, but knowing what to do with them. The Legal Research E & E guides students through examples and explanations of the kinds of sources they've found, using the context of interesting and entertaining real-world problems. The text helps students determine which sources are the most useful for the current project and which ¬ it leads students to understand how one source affects and relates to the others; and--equally important--it shows students how to write about the sources they have found. Because this book covers the kinds of research projects faced not only by beginning law students but also by advanced students and even new lawyers, its value to its readers is long-lasting. Even experienced researchers will learn more about working with the difficult, as well as the easy, research questions that today are addressed by an array of sources.
Specialized Legal Research by 
Finding the Law by
Although there are other books that discuss conducting legal research, Finding the Law: Legal Research for Librarians is unique in that it is aimed at librarians, library science students, and paralegals rather than at law students. Because it assumes that its audience already understands the research process in general, this book will allow readers to grow professionally, learning new skills that will be used in the day-to-day practice of librarianship as it applies to our legal systems. Topics covered include the origins of legal publishing; an overview of the U.S. system of law and government; issues related to the U. S. Constitution and Treaties; and the activities of the legislative and executive branches. Consideration is also given to researching state legal systems, emphasizing the differences to conducting research for the federal systems. The book concludes with an examination of the legal issues faced by librarians, publishers, and book distributors.
Legal Research by
Legal research made simple! If you're searching for information in a real or virtual law library as a paralegal, law student, legal assistant, journalist, or lay person, finding and accessing the laws that you need to read can be a challenge. Turn to Legal Research, which outlines a systematic method to find answers and get results. In plain, readable English, Attorney Stephen Elias explains, with plenty of examples and instructions, how to: . read and understand statues, regulations and cases . evaluate cases for their value as precedent . use all the basic tools of legal research . practice what you've learned with "hands-on, library exercises, as well as hypothetical research problems and solutions This easy-to-use and understand book has been adopted as a text in many law schools and paralegal programs. This edition has been condensed to be more readable and includes an expanded discussion on the use of new legal research tools on the web.
California Legal Research by
The second edition of California Legal Research continues to fill a unique niche in the literature available for California state law research, explaining both the sources of California law and the process of conducting research using those sources. This edition includes enhanced coverage of online sources, and WestlawNext, Lexis Advance, and free Internet sources are covered throughout.
After introductory chapters devoted to the basic research process and research techniques, California Legal Research explores judicial opinions, the state constitution, statutes and legislative history, and administrative law. The book then turns to updating research with Shepard's and KeyCite, using secondary sources and practice guides, and planning a research strategy. A final chapter explains legal citation, with information on the California Style Manual, the ALWD Citation Manual, and the Bluebook.
The book should be valuable to a wide range of audiences -- from first-year students to seasoned veterans. Outlines of the research process and excerpts from key state sources make the book easy to use. The text includes brief discussions of legal analysis throughout, recognizing the interplay between research and analysis.
California Legal Research supplements its detailed discussion of state research with brief discussions of federal research. Thus, it can be used as the sole text in a research course or in conjunction with texts focusing on topical or federal research.
This book is part of the Legal Research Series, edited by Suzanne E. Rowe, Director of Legal Research and Writing, University of Oregon School of Law.
