This tutorial will show construction law students how to apply advanced legal research skills at Leeds Beckett University.

1. Legal Research Skills:
Advanced
Construction Law
Jennie Wilson
Academic Librarian for the School of the Built Environment
Libraries and Learning Innovation

2. This tutorial will help you understand the principles of
advanced research and how to apply these in your own
studies. The tutorial should take 20 minutes to work through.
This will include:
• Subject guide resources
• Using Journal articles
• Advanced search techniques
• Keeping up to date
• Using other Libraries
Aims and Objectives

3. The Building and Construction and 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.
Building and Construction and 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 expensive 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.
2. You want to find articles for your own research.
1 = you need to use the information you have to track down
the full text article in a database.
2 = 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. When you have a reference
Satsangi, M 2009, 'Community Land Ownership, Housing and Sustainable
Rural Communities', Planning Practice & Research, 24, 2, pp. 251-262
• Author = Satsangi, M
• Title of article = Community Land Ownership, Housing and Sustainable
Rural Communities
• Title of journal in which article appears = Planning Practice & Research
• Volume number = 24
• Issue number = 2
• Year of publication = 2009
• Pages (inclusive ) = 251-262
Access from Library Website > Resources > E-Journals A-Z
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/resources
Type the journal title (not the article title) Planning Practice & Research into the
search box. Click on the link. Navigate to the right article using the
Information above – Year (2009) – Volume (24) – Issue (2) – Page
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. There is a box on the Library homepage and also on the
subject guides.
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
• The following slides will show you how…
Define your topic

12. Your search strategy
Once you have decided on your dissertation topic, you will need to carry
out a literature search in order to see what sort of information is available
around this area and so your ideas can be put into context. Background
reading will also help you find a focus for your research. An initial
literature search should involve you investigating many possible avenues
of information open to you.
Remember, before you start searching for information, think carefully
about the topic you are researching and take some time to define it and
plan what you want to include.
You can use dictionaries or encyclopaedias to help define your subject
and help you think of new terms. For example, try using
Oxford Reference Online, a database containing many
general and subject specific reference resources.

13. Your final list of keywords and phrases - or search terms - will
help you make the best use of the databases. In the following
pages we will break down these elements to ensure you have
a clear plan before you begin. This can save you lots of time
and will help you to plan and manage your dissertation. Before
you conduct research you need to think about the kinds of
information you might need.
Books are useful for general research, journals are useful for
commentary, and news sources are useful for immediate
reactions by the press. There are lots of different sources of
information but all of these sources rely on the words you
choose to search for them.
The following steps will take you through developing
a search strategy.

14. Keywords
You need to think about the most accurate and commonly
used words associated with your research topic.
To help you collect these look at the websites or blogs of
organisations in the area of research and search for your
interest; note what language is used.
Look at different media including magazines, newspapers
and trade publications to see if there are any other popular
terms associated with your research topic.
Consider any specific phrases you might need to look for
and keep a record of these. This could be in a Word
document or spreadsheet for example.

15. Keyword example
"What factors contribute to structural defects in
buildings?"
Break down your title keywords into concepts:
Concept 1: "Factors"
Concept 2: "structural defect"
Concept 3: "buildings"

16. Synonyms
A synonym is a word with a similar meaning to your
topic. If you want to conduct your research in the UK
you should also search for Britain, United Kingdom
and GB to ensure you do not miss any information.
Another example is to look at common and popular
terms which might change over time. for example if
you run a search using Climate Change you will
miss any research which has used the term Global
Warming.
Again don't forget to record these so you
can quickly run different searches.

17. Synonym example
Concept 1: "Factors" - you should also consider
searching for "causes" and "reasons" etc.
Concept 2: "structural defect" - you should also
consider searching for "physical damage"
"structural deficit" etc.
Concept 3: "buildings" - you should also consider
searching for "construction" architecture"
"house" etc.

18. Variations in spelling
Pay attention to different spellings, for example if you
are researching American perspectives on a topic
you need to check the spelling.
Example:
UK: Golbalisation
America: Globalization
It is very important to remember this, as if
you misspell the word in a database you
might miss a lot of useful information.

19. Boolean Logic
Boolean Logic is a pure mathematical 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

20. Boolean is available in nearly every database
Advanced Search option so you can quickly
apply them, however some databases, and for
example Google Scholar, require you to type
your search including these tools.
Examples are:
• building OR house OR architecture
• factors AND building AND defects
• defect NOT environment

22. Phrase searches
You can search for a phrase by putting
quotation marks round the words. This
ensures the words are searched for as a
phrase, not separate words anywhere in the
text. E.g. a search for “planning law” would
not retrieve an article with the sentence “we
are planning to change the law”, unless it
also had the phrase “planning law” within it
somewhere. Again this works in most
databases including Google Scholar.

23. Wildcards and truncation
Wildcards and truncation are where symbols are substituted for a letter or
letters.
For example in some databases you can use an asterisk * to replace a
character anywhere in a word, except the first character. Use one
asterisk for each character you want to replace. Wildcards are particularly
useful for finding variations in spelling, for example “Organi*ation” would
find organization or organisation.
In some databases you can use an exclamation mark ! to truncate a word
and find all the words made by adding letters to the end of it. Use one
exclamation mark to replace any number of characters. The exclamation
mark must always come at the end of your search. For example
a search for plan! will search for the words plan, planning,
planner, planned...

24. Time span
When planning your timespan consider the value of including
historical information. You might want to briefly mention how the
topic has developed through time at the start of your dissertation,
or you might want to look in depth at how something has evolved
over time and how this might signal where research will head in
the future. If in doubt speak to your supervisor who will be able to
help you decide.
Remember only to use historical material if it directly imparts a
perspective on your research. Typically a dissertation is written to
an audience of peers, that is people with a similar understanding
to your own knowledge. This means you do not have to start from
the basic premise of your topic but can presume some
prior knowledge from you reader and ensure your
dissertation is of a higher standard.

25. Geographical area
As with choosing synonyms it is important to decide if you need
to focus on a geographical area and what impact this will have
on your dissertation. For example remember to use broad
keywords to make sure you capture all research from an area,
as with the UK you would also search for Britain, United
Kingdom, England and GB.
Think about how feasible the information will be to collect, for
example if you are researching construction planning in
Germany will there be enough research available? Do you
need to broaden your search to, for example, Europe? Or do
you need to narrow your search to ensure you have
a clear focus and can look at aspects in depth?

26. Choosing a search strategy
In most databases you can choose what you are searching,
e.g. author, title, keyword, subject, ISBN...
A keyword search searches for any articles containing your
words anywhere at all in the article. This delivers a lot of
articles but they might not all be very relevant.
Using subject headings can help retrieve a more specific
set of results.
Look for the Advanced search option, or use the
drop down box on most databases to search by
subject/keyword.

27. If you conduct a search for Arbitration AND Construction in the
subject/keyword field, you will only retrieve items that have been
indexed under those subject headings. In other words, the articles
have been assessed to be primarily about these subjects-the words
arbitration and construction are not just mentioned in passing.
Conduct a subject/keyword search for Arbitration AND Construction.
How many results do you obtain?
Other databases may use the terms subject headings, or thesaurus
search, but the idea behind them is the same as they allow you to
search for items about arbitration and construction, for example, even
if those words are not mentioned in the document. It is a good tip to
use these more advanced ways of searching databases,
in order to retrieve the maximum amount of relevant
documents.

28. • Don’t just stick to one database
• Westlaw has some journals which Lexis doesn’t (and
vice versa)
• Also lots more relevant information in other
databases
Exploring other resources

29. 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

30. It has cover:
• Subject guide resources
• Using Journal articles
• Advanced search techniques
• Keeping up to date
• Using other Libraries
This tutorial shows you steps taken when
conducting advanced legal research.

31. Need further help?
• For subject support see the
Building and Construction subject guide
• Book an appointment or email your enquiry to
your academic librarian Jennie Wilson
j.l.Wilson@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
• For general library enquiries see the Contact
Us page
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/contact_us