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)
- 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 the Pappas Periodicals list.
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 most BNA looseleafs in electronic form. Selected looseleafs include:
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
- How to Find the Law
Law Reserve & Law Ref Desk KF 240 .C645 1989 - Fundamentals of Legal Research
Law Reserve & Law Ref Desk KF240 .M47 2002 - 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 2002 - Germain, Germain's Transnational Law Research: A
Guide for Attorneys
Law Ref Desk K 85 .G47 - Rehberg & Popa, Accidental Tourist on the New
Frontier: An Introductory Guide to Global Legal Research
Law Ref Desk K 85 A23 1998 - 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: April 2007