Law -- Research Effectively with Secondary Sources

Using secondary sources -- legal encyclopedia, treatise (book), law review article, etc. -- is often the most efficient way to do legal research. They provide analysis by legal scholars and citations to the most important court cases you should read. Below are a few of the secondary sources available in the University Libraries. Contact the Social Sciences Library for more assistance.

Legal encyclopedias provide discussions of legal topics. Annotations included with each entry refer to court case reporters, statutes and digests of court cases. These encyclopedias are kept up to date with pocket supplements in the back of each volume.

• Corpus Juris Secundum (CJS)
  "A contemporary statement of American law as derived from reported cases and legislation." Organized into more than 400 topics, arranged alphabetically.

• American Jurisprudence
  Discussions of points of law that are supported by cases that interpret and construe the law. Organized into more than 430 topics, arranged alphabetically.
  Available online through Westlaw Campus

• Pennsylvania Law Encyclopedia
  Much like Corpus Juris Secundumfor Pennsylvania law

• West's Encyclopedia of American law
  Written for those who are not familiar with legal jargon, providing about 5000 articles in non-technical language; arranged alphabetically.
  Available online through the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

• Oxford Reference Online
  Contains a number of legal encyclopedias and dictionaries, including the Oxford Companion to American Law, Oxford Dictionary of Law, Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions.

• Black's Law Dictionary
  Available online through Westlaw Campus
  Hint: Under "Shortcuts" in upper left hand corner click on "Content List" then type "Black's" into the search box.

• Bieber's dictionary of legal abbreviations : a reference guide for attorneys, legal secretaries, paralegals, and law students

• Legal Research : How to Find and Understand the Law

In addition to general law encyclopedias and law reviews, commentary on the law is available in many other sources. These resources will provide you with background and analysis of legal topics, as well as citations to many of the most important laws, regulations, and court cases on your topic.

Use The CAT to locate legal treatises (books) related to specific law topics. Below are a few specialized resources in commonly-requested topics. For additional help please contact the Social Sciences Library.

• American Law Reports (ALR)
  Available online through Westlaw Campus
  Something between an encyclopedia article and a law review article, ALR provides in-depth commentary on legal topics

• BNA (Bureau of National Affairs) Law Resources
  One of the major legal publishers, BNA provides a library of reports, newsletters, and commentary related to legal topics. Once in the library you will need to choose a subject specific file to search. You can set up alerts to receive announcements of new developments in topic areas of interest. Examples of topic areas include: criminal law, labor law, environmental law, intellectual property, and many more.

• CCH (Commerce Clearinghouse)
  Another major legal publisher, it provides a wide array of resources through:

  • Tax Research Network
  • Health and Human Resources Network
  • Business and Finance Network

• InterAm Database (National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade)

• International Law in Domestic Courts