Reviewing the Legal Literature
It is essential to do a thorough search of existing legal
literature to ascertain precisely what has already been written on your topic
and to determine if your approach is original. If your ideas have been covered
previously, it will be necessary to alter your approach. This must be done
throughout the research and writing process.
Works in Progress
Prepublication drafts of articles are often shared
by legal scholars through the following Web sites. Searching them will help
you determine if your topic has been preempted by another author whose work will
soon go to press.
Legal Periodicals
To track what has been written previously in law journals on a
particular topic, use one of the following indexes.
- Current Index to Legal Periodicals (http://cilp.nellco.org/cilp/index.cfm)
(Reserve KF8.C87x) This index is weekly, so it is the best source available for
tracking new articles. It provides subject access to more than 700 legal
periodicals and can be accessed on Westlaw in the "CILP" database.
- LegalTrac This electronic index is updated every month. It
provides access by topic and keyword as well as by citation for statutes and
cases. It can also be found as the Legal Resource
Index on LexisNexis under LEGAL > SECONDARY LEGAL > ANNOTATIONS
& INDEXES and on WESTLAW in the "LRI" database.
- Index
to Legal Periodicals This index is updated every month. It offers
access to articles by topic. It is available from Lumina workstations in the Law
Library and throughout Mondale Hall.
Automatic Periodical Updating Services
It is possible to set up automatic searches to run at regular
intervals in various databases to help track new articles covering particular
legal developments. On LexisNexis this is called the Alerts service and on
Westlaw it is called WESTCLIP. Numerous other databases that are
available at the University of Minnesota can be found at http://www.lib.umn.edu/site/indexes.phtml. Many allow you to set up alert services to monitor
new developments.
Case Updating Services
Any cases used in your article must be monitored closely using
both KEYCITE on Westlaw and SHEPARDS on LexisNexis. Both of these services
provide later case history and references and links to citing cases and
secondary sources. Although there may be duplication in many of the sources
listed, these two services frequently provide different references to citing
sources. It is possible to set up automatic KEYCITE searches that will report
changes in a case's history and new citations to the case.
Other Legal Texts
Commentaries in treatises are helpful for finding historical and
background information about your topic. The most systematic way to identify
treatises is to search a topical bibliography or a library catalog. You can find
bibliographies in MNCAT Classic by using the following key word search: bibiograph?
and [topic].
To learn about works that may not be available on campus, search
WorldCat. This source combines the listings of libraries throughout
the United
States as well as several major libraries
abroad. It provides keyword access to authors, titles, and subjects.
Also useful are
American Law Reports
(ALR) (Reporters KF 132). This series of reporters covers
significant developments in American case law. Cases are selectively reported,
but each case includes a helpful annotation which comments on the legal issues
raised by the case with references to numerous other precedents and
commentaries. Several digests exist for the various series. The series is also
available on Westlaw in the "ALR" database and on LexisNexis under LEGAL >
FEDERAL LEGAL -- U.S.
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