American Law LLM Introduction to Research Methodology

Always start any legal research project with a good "research strategy", regardless of whether you are using print or online sources. Online resources available to BULaw students include Westlaw, LexisNexis, other databases to which BU subscribes, along with the Internet.


Research Strategy

Approaching a legal research project requires creativity. The law is often compared to an art, not a science. How you approach an issue and how another law student approaches it may be quite distinct; and both of you may be correct!

Online tutorials related to research strategy are available through CALI. The password is available from the reference desk.

Getting started with your legal research project, there are many factors to consider when deciding which format of materials, print, online or some combination, to use. If you need assistance with getting your research started, please talk to the reference staff.

Some things to consider include:

Type of Research

Sometimes, what you are really looking for are facts - statistics, reports, news stories, etc. A good starting point may be the Internet for statistics or government reports or the BU online catalog to locate reports or books on the topic.

Perhaps you need an overview of an area of law, one with which you are not very familiar. A secondary source, such as a Hornbook or legal encyclopedia (like Corpus Juris Secundum) which you locate using the BU online catalog or a law review article would help you out.

You may need to find cases, statutes and regulations. The primary law is what you need here. When you have a citation to one of these primary sources, you can use the materials, such as United States Code Annotated or the Federal Reporter, in Pappas Law Library (map in .pdf) or try Find on Westlaw or Get a Document on LexisNexis. (You will learn more about these features in your upcoming training sessions).

Choosing the right resource is very important. If you are using Westlaw and LexisNexis, you should be certain you have chosen the database which contains the type of information you seek. The larger and broader the database you select, the larger the number of hits you will have, some of which may not be very helpful.

If you are looking for a recent case from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which database would you select on Westlaw? Consult the Westlaw database directory.

Dates of materials

The date range of the materials you are looking for must match the dates of materials included in the resource you select.

Searching for law review articles:

Example: You are looking for an article from the 1979 issue of the American University Law Review. Which resource would you use?

Full text:

If you were trying to locate law review articles about a case which was decided in 1956, which would be the best resource to consult?

Online index: Legaltrac, also LRI on Westlaw and LGLND on LexisNexis, indexes articles from 1980 to present

Paper index: Index to Legal Periodicals (& Books) (Law Indexes & Law Annex Ref KF 8 I53): Indexes articles from 1908 to present.

If you are looking for the most recent issue of a particular law review or a case which was decided this week, it is usually best to use an online resource.


What resources are available to you?

Do you have Internet access? Do you have a library with the books and journals you need nearby? Do you have LexisNexis and Westlaw passwords?


How will you be using the materials?

Are you looking for a general overview? Do you need a specific statute? Do you already have a specific citation to a law review article which you need to read?

Cost

Are there any restrictions on the amount of money you can set aside for this project? Must you use resources which will not incur a bill? While cost is not a concern to law students, when you graduate, and are working, cost is a major factor in determining what resources you select.

Personal preference

Do you prefer to skim pages of an index or table of contents? Do you like looking through lists of "hits" online? Do you want to be at home when you do your research? Do you want an electronic copy of a document so you can copy a quote?

Time available

How much time do you have to complete your research? Do you need to do some "quick and dirty" research or do you have several days in which to complete an assignment?


Reliability of Resource

Is this a book or database which the library has reviewed and decided to purchase? Is it a free resource on the Internet? If so, what type of domain name is it?

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."

Take a look at the following Whitehouse sites. Which is reliable for presidential information?

Take a look at the article, "Assess the Quality of Information at a Web Site" from TVC Alert.

Full Text and Index Searching

An index includes specific terms describing the content of a book or article, in the form of an abstract. A search of an index will generate a list of article citations, with abstracts, collected by subject. Try an index when the area you are researching is new to you, and you may not know the legal "terms of art".

When you search the full text, you search all of the words which make up the text book or article. This can be several pages through hundreds of pages. Some Internet search engines search through the full text of (or all of the words on) web pages.

Use an index if you are researching a general topic or do not know much about the area of the law you are researching. Online, you can be much broader in your search when using an index. Also, in paper, you can browse an index to see what other keywords and search terms may be useful. Remember, a person has actually read the items, for example, law review articles, and selected terms which best describe the content of the article.

Using an index to legal periodicals to find law review articles:

  • Legaltrac: Legaltrac, also LRI on Westlaw and LGLND on LexisNexis, indexes articles from 1980 to present. Because Legaltrac is an online index to legal articles, a search for "patriot act" and "civil liberties" generates 13 hits. This index only searches a small amount of information describing the law review articles, and finds a select number which will deal in some depth with the terms or phrases used in the search: patriot act and civil liberties.
  • Helpful Guides:

Use a full text database if you have phrase or term of art which is quite specific, have a very particular topic or area of the law, or know a lot about the area you are researching. A very broad search of an online full text database may result in thousands of documents, some of which may be of little value or relevance to your research.

Your knowledge of how to effectively search the database is crucial. Try limiting your search with fields or segments, using Boolean connectors, limiting by date, etc.

Examples of full text periodical databases include JLR on Westlaw and ALLREV on LexisNexis.

Example: search JLR on Westlaw for:

Search String
Results
"patriot act" and "civil liberties"
937
"patriot act " w/s "civil liberties"
290
"patriot act " w/s "civil liberties" and da(aft 01/01/2005)
24


Boolean and natural language searching

What are Boolean connectors?

Boolean operators or connectors include: AND, OR, NOT. These terms are used in many online databases, including Westlaw, LexisNexis, other databases and many Internet search engines.

Boolean connectors let you customize your search query in an online database. Along with proximity connectors, field or segment restriction and date limitations which are also available in many databases, like Westlaw and LexisNexis, you can determine where your search terms or keywords will appear.

Example: "patriot act" w/s "civil liberties" and DA(aft 01/01/2005)

This search string specifies that patriot act, as a phrase MUST appear within the same sentence as the phrase civil liberties, and all items retrieved must be published AFTER January 1, 2005.

  • Results: 24 articles in JLR on Westlaw

You can consult a lists of connectors, fields or segments, etc., available in Westlaw and LexisNexis.

What is natural language searching?

Natural language searching allows you to enter a query (think of the search engine "Ask Jeeves") just as you would ask a question of your friend.

Your natural language query is then "translated" by the online service into a Boolean type search. As with any "translation", there is some debate about whether natural language searching is as effective as using Boolean connectors.

If your natural language search is:

How has the Patriot Act impacted civil liberties?

And you use Natural Language on Westlaw in the JLR database, the query is translated by Westlaw.

  • Results: 20 hits (maximum under default)

Compare the articles retrieved by for the Boolean search and the natural language search. Which are more helpful for this research question?

Segment and field searching

Restricting a search to a specific segment or field may produce results which are much more focused.

For example, if you know one of the parties to a case, you can search online restricting your search to the names of cases.

If you know the author of a law review article or the title of a newspaper article, you can likewise search online by limiting yourself to the author or title field.

Westlaw has field searching and LexisNexis has segment searching. Other databases will also allow you to search within particular fields or segments.

Example: search the BU Online catalog for a book which we know has tort law in the title.

  • Search for tort law as KEYWORD, results: 101 records
  • Search for tort law as TITLE, results: 14 records

In the catalog, KEYWORD searches all of the words and fields in the database; TITLE searches only the words which appear in the TITLE field/segment.


Westlaw

Each writing seminar section will have a one hour, hands-on, training session, according to the schedule, to learn how to use Westlaw. Please bring your password.

Boston University Westlaw Information

Passwords

Helpful resources for searching Westlaw

Each writing seminar will have a one hour, hands-on, training session, according to the schedule, to learn how to use Westlaw in more detail. Please bring your password.

LexisNexis

Each writing seminar section will have a one hour, hands-on, training session, according to the schedule, to learn how to use LexisNexis. Please bring your password.

Boston University LexisNexis Information

Passwords

  • Create or change your custom LexisNexis ID by following these easy steps. Be sure to choose a custom ID which is easy for you to recall. Also, you can request this custom LexisNexis ID from LexisNexis if you happen to forget it.
  • Forgot Your Password? if you have created a custom LexisNexis ID, LexisNexis will e-mail it to you.
  • The Pappas Reference Desk will have a list of registered passwords around November 1.

Use policy

Helpful resources for LexisNexis

Other databases

To use any the BU licensed databases on your laptop or home computer, you must take these simple steps to configure your browser for the BU proxy server.


Internet

There are many useful Internet sites, far too many to list here. A few useful sites include:

The MOST important of all is to remember that the reference librarians are here to assist you with your legal research. Never hesitate to ask us questions!

Page maintained by Terri Gallego-O'Rourke
Last updated: September 2006