How to Prepare Your Note, Cert. or Seminar Paper:
Secondary Source Research
Looking at secondary sources, including law review articles, treatises and loose-leaf services, is a very helpful first step for any legal research project. While researching your paper topic, you may also wish to consult some non-legal resources. Guides to legal research are available in print and electronic formats.
Law review & law journal articles
- Search full-text articles on Westlaw and LexisNexis (late 1980's-present)
- Use a periodical index for focused searching:
- Index to Legal Periodicals (1981-present): LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Legal Periodicals and Books on the web
- Legal Resource Index (1980-present) on LexisNexis, Westlaw, or Legaltrac
- For law review and law journal articles prior to 1980, use the Index to Legal Periodicals [Law Indexes KF 8 .I53] in print or on the web via Legal Periodicals Retro
- The HeinOnline Law Journal Library offers limited searchability of legal articles, with many of the journals going back to their first volume.
- For articles not available in full text online, check Law Journals A-Z.
Treatises and other books
Search the BU online catalog by Word to find materials related to your topic.
If you do not find the materials you require in the BU collection, you can search the catalogs of libraries from around the world through the online catalog Worldcat, then request to borrow the materials through interlibrary loan. Please consult a reference librarian with any questions or problems.
Looseleaf services
- Search the BU online catalog by Word or Title, if you have found the title of a loose-leaf service in the course of your research.
- Legal Looseleafs in Print [Law Ref Desk KF 1 L55] lists looseleafs currently published
- LexisNexis has topical databases collections under Research Tasks or Area of Law - By Topic which include looseleaf services
- Westlaw topical materials, including looseleaf services, are organized in Topical Materials by Area of Practice
- The library subscribes to all BNA looseleafs in electronic form. Selected looseleafs include:
- BNA's Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report
- BNA's Banking Report
- BNA's Electronic Commerce & Law Report
- BNA's International Trade Reporter
- BNA's Patent, Trademark and Copyright Journal
- BNA's U.S. Law Week
- The library also subscribes to selected CCH looseleafs in electronic form via the IntelliConnect service. (First time users will need to create a login). These include:
- Bankruptcy Law Reporter
- Federal Banking Law Reporter
- Federal Securities Law Reporter
- Labor and Employment (Wages & Hours, Labor Relations, etc.)
- Standard Federal Tax Reporter
- Trade Regulation Reporter
Non-legal articles
You may want to supplement your legal research with non-legal perspectives on the same topic. Some of the resources you can use include:
- BU's Electronic Resources by Subject pages connect you with numerous indexes of articles in academic disciplines including political science, economics, anthropology, history, and sociology
- JSTOR, an electronic journal collection, allows you to search for full-text for articles in economics, political science and several other fields
- BU's electronic journals list
- Search the BU online catalog for materials on non-law topics
- BU's Mugar Memorial Library has a collection of Research Guides on many non-law subjects
Guides to Legal Research
General Guides
- Fundamentals of Legal Research
Law Reserve & Law Ref Desk KF240 .B369 2009 - Handbook of Legal Research in Massachusetts
Law Ref & Law Ref Desk KFM 2475 .H36
Topical Guides
- Chanin, Specialized Legal Research
Law Ref Desk & Law Reserve KF 240 .S63 - Richmond, Federal Tax Research
Law Reserve KF 241 .T38 R5 2007 - Germain, Germain's Transnational Law Research: A
Guide for Attorneys
Law Ref Desk K 85 .G47 - Guide to International Legal Research
Law Ref Desk KZ 1234 G85 - Legal Information Institute's "Law About" Topics from Cornell Law School
- Pappas Law Library Research Guides
Page maintained by Raquel Ortiz
Last updated: September 2009