This short guide shows Law students how to apply advanced legal research skills to databases at Leeds Beckett Library.

1. Legal Research Skills:
Advanced
Libraries and Learning Innovation
Jennie Wilson and Catherine Parkin
Academic Librarians for the Leeds Law School

2. It will cover:
• Subject guide resources
• Using Journal articles
• Advanced search techniques
• Using other Libraries
The tutorial should take 10 minutes to complete.
This tutorial will help you understand the
principles of advanced research and how
to apply these in your own studies.

3. The Law subject guides act as an entry point to all the
resources you need to complete your studies.
You can be assured that each resource either purchased or
free, contains excellent materials of sufficient academic quality
for you to use in your assignments.
These pages are constantly updated by your subject librarian,
who is on hand to provide assistance with any resource.
Law Subject Pages

4. Journals are just like magazines. They are also called periodicals,
serials, and weeklies. They are published weekly, monthly, quarterly
and sometimes annually.
• Just like magazines, they contain short articles. Remember a
Journal is like a magazine, a Journal article is the story inside the
magazine.
• The readership can be academic or practitioner or a mixture of
both. These are both good academic standards of content, unlike
some magazines.
• The most important difference between magazines and journals
is that journals are (mostly) peer reviewed. Peer review means
quite literally that the content of the article has been reviewed by
a professional peer (an equal) in that same specialist field
as that of the author. In a magazine this is typically
done by editors.
Using journal articles

5. • Law journals give insight into the significance of a case and
can relate it to other cases and decisions. They might also
discuss the issues surrounding a law. This type of insight is
also referred to generally as commentary.
• The printed journals are shelved separately to the book
stock in the Library. They are shelved alphabetically by title,
e.g. Journal of Law and Society is shelved at JOU, Law
Review is at LAW.
• Many of our journals are available online so you can use
them off-campus. You need to access these through the
library website so you get to the right log-in page.
Subscriptions to journals are typically between
£400-£2000 a year, per title so they must be
accessed with your standard log in details.
Using journal articles

6. There are two ways to use journals.
1. You have a reference to an article you want to read = you
need to use the information you have to track down the full
text article in a database.
2. You want to find articles for your own research = you need
to use a database to conduct research on a topic.
The following section will show you how to access electronic
and hard copy articles whether you are looking for a reference
or conducting your own research.
Finding journal articles

7. 1. You have a reference to an article you
want to read.
Dewhurst, E. (2015) Are Older Workers Past Their Sell-by-Date? A View from UK
Age Discrimination Law, Modern Law Review, 78, (2), pp 189-215.
• Author = Dewhurst, E.
• Title of article = Are Older Workers Past Their Sell-by-Date? A View from UK
Age Discrimination Law
• Title of journal in which article appears = Modern Law Review
• Volume number = 78
• Issue number = 2
• Year of publication = 2015
• Pages (inclusive ) = 189-215
Access from Library Website > Resources > E-Journals A-Z
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/resources
Type the journal title (not the article title) Modern Law Review into the
search box. Click on the link. Navigate to the right article using the
information above: Year (2009) – Volume (24) – Issue (2) – Page 189.
You can then access the full text document or download as PDF.

8. Two main legal databases
• Westlaw – journal index plus around 60 full-text
journals
• Lexis Library - journal index plus around 60 full-
text journals
Each one has different journals.
Each database has some journals it has full
access to and some where it only has an
abstract.
2. You want to find articles for your own
research.

9. Discover is a very broad search tool, searching 95% of all library
resources. When conduction research it is sometimes useful to look at
other discipline areas of research which you can then apply to your own
sector. However there will be times when you require more precise
research from a legal perspective. this is when you would choose a
particular database from the subject guide, and conduct your search within
that resource.
The following video clips show that many databases are very similar to one
another in the way you use them, however each collection is different and
so the results can be very different too.
We will compare Westlaw and Lexis, both of which contain
60+ full-text journals and many indexes (remember an index is
just the bibliographic information, not the complete article).
2. You want to find articles for your own
research.

10. Before you use a database for research you first
need to consider what information you need to
collect.
The following slides will guide you through the
aspects you should consider before starting a search
on a database.
You should work on a search strategy to
save time and record your searches.
2. You want to find articles for your own
research.

11. • Note down keywords or phrases that describe your topic
• Write down any synonyms or related terms
• Note down any variations in spelling or American terms
• Decide on the time span involved. How far back do you
need to look for relevant information?
• You may also want to consider whether you want to limit
your search to a particular geographical area
• Your final list of keywords and phrases - or search terms -
will help you make the best use of the databases
Define your topic

12. “What factors affect adolescents’ fear of crime?”
Break down into concepts or keywords:
• Concept 1. “factors”
• Concept 2. “adolescents”
• Concept 3. “fear of crime”
Keywords

13. Concept 1. “factors”
OR causes, reasons
Concept 2. “adolescents”
OR youths, young people, teenagers
Concept 3. “fear of crime”
OR use specific crimes, such as mugging,
robbery, etc.
Sometimes a good idea to search for just one of
your concepts to begin with.
Synonyms / related terms

14. Boolean Logic - process of linking concepts in order to narrow
or expand a search
• AND links two or more terms and narrows a search, retrieving
only references containing at least one term from each
concept
• OR links two or more terms and expands or broadens a
search retrieving all references containing at least one of the
search concepts entered
• NOT narrows a search by removing all references
that contain a particular word or phrase
Boolean

15. • Don’t just stick to one database
• Westlaw has some journals which Lexis doesn’t (and
vice versa)
• There is lots more relevant information in other
databases; try Discover search tool, and also look at
news databases like Nexis.
Exploring other resources

16. There will always be information sources we do not hold. There are two main ways you
can access this material.
1. Interlibrary Loan
This service means you can request a book, journal, conference paper etc. and we will
source a copy if available. Each interlibrary loan costs £2. More information is on this
page:
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/subject_support/interlibrary_loans_and_using_other
_libraries/applying_for_interlibrary_loans
2. SCONUL access
The SCONUL access agreement enables students to visit other university libraries to
access their physical resources. You might find that another local university library has
a journal you want to access, you can apply to SCONUL and get reference access to
their collection. (Reference access means you cannot borrow). remember all university
library catalogues are accessible online. There is more information here:
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/subject_support/interlibrary_loans_and_using_other
_libraries/using_other_libraries
Using other libraries

17. • For subject support see the Law subject guide
• Book an appointment or email your enquiry to your
academic librarians Jennie Wilson and Catherine
Parkin
parkin.wilson@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
• For general library enquiries see the Contact Us
page
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/contact_us
Need more help?