Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science, International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu
Helen Sheehy
Title: Head Social Sciences Library
Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science, International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu
Secondary law sources are often the best place for a non-lawyer to begin research. These sources will help explain legal issues and provide citations to the most important cases related to those issues. Secondary sources include law journals, legal encyclopedias, and legal dictionaries.
Encyclopedia of Law and Higher Education — includes summaries of major cases in higher education law; concepts, theories and legal principles; constitution rights and issues; faculty and student rights; and more.
Index to Legal Periodicals and LegalTrac — the two major indexes to law reviews and journals. Includes a lot of full text and will link out to resources in other databases including LexisNexis and HeinOnline.
LexisNexis Academic — Click on US Legal to find the source you need
American Jurisprudence
a legal encyclopedia designed to provide in-depth explanations of legal topics. Heavily laced with citations to pertinent cases. Organized into more than 430 topics, arranged alphabetically. Available in LexisNexis Academic.
Other legal reference tools in LexisNexis Academic include several legal dictionaries that will help you find definitions to legal term, definitions for common terms as they are used in the context of court cases, and help with interpreting legal abbreviations.
Supreme Court Yearbook — excellent summaries of Supreme Court cases (back to 1989)
CQ Supreme Court Collection — less detailed summaries but covers earlier cases
Citators serve two purposes:
They allow you to trace a case as it travels through the court system and the appeals process
They allow you to locate other cases that have cited your case and identify subsequent opinions from higher courts that may have over ruled or modified a case you are studying
Shepard's is the best-known of the citators. Available in print for many years, it is now available online in LexisNexis Academic. Tracing legal citations using this service is called "Shepardizing". To Shepardize a case in LexisNexis Academic:
choose US Legal from the left menu
Choose Shepard's® Citations from the left menu
Enter your citation. Citation style must be exact. Use the citation link to the right of the search box for assistance
— OR —
when displaying a case in LexisNexis Academic, click on the Shepard's link in the upper right corner immediately below the search box
Hint: Before you begin — quickly scroll to the bottom of the Shepard's page and familiarize yourself with the signal legend. Pay particular attention to any citations that have negative treatments (e.g. distinguished, questioned, modified, etc.)
Key to doing case law research is understanding the structure of the court system and differences between state and federal jurisdiction.
Below are a few resources to get you started from the Web site of the Office of the United States Courts.
Understanding the Federal Courts — a more in-depth look at the federal courts
The structure of state courts vary. Below is a link to information on the Pennsylvania court System. Search for other state judiciary Web sites for more information. Findlaw.com can help you locate those sites.
Gratz v. Bollinger — LexisNexis Supreme Court Cases provide a wealth of additional information beyond the court opinion. This PDF points out key features in the cases that you will retrieve. /alt50.jpg)
Law: A Guide to Research — the main Penn State Libraries' research guide that lists all major law resources available through the libraries.
