This document provides an overview of how to effectively research legal topics using electronic resources. It discusses databases like HeinOnline, Lexis Library, and Westlaw which contain primary legal documents. It demonstrates how to search these databases to find cases, legislation, and journal articles using keywords, natural language searches, and proximity operators. The document also discusses evaluating information found on freely available websites using criteria like authority, accuracy, currency, audience, and design. It concludes by mentioning that OSCOLA is the standard citation style for legal documents in the UK.

1. LEGAL METHOD
Electronic Resources
LAW1104
Catherine Funnell
Liaison Librarian(Law and Marketing)
Sheppard Library

2. Session Objectives
 We‟ll look at the legal databases available
and selecting appropriate subject keywords
when searching them
 Finding EJournals
 How best to approach your research
questions
 Freely available websites on the Internet and
evaluating them

3. End of Session
Be equipped to use search
techniques to search the electronic
resources effectively
Have some understanding of how to
critically assess information available
on the Internet

4. Databases-Primary for Law
Heinonline
Lexis Library
Westlaw

5. Start with My UniHub
Log in to My UniHub
with the same
username and
password you used
to log in to the
network

6. My Study-Click on This
We‟ll Look at Ejournals First

7. New Law Journal-Our Example
You can either
type the title in
the box or
choose from the
alphabetical list

8. Results
Click on the Lexis Link Provided
This tells us that this
title is available in
Lexis from 1987 to
the present.

9. Terms of Use-Click on Accept

10. New Law Journal in Lexis
Search by Search Keyword

11. Results
Select#10 From the List
Here we have the
TITLE of the
article, the DATE and
the SOURCE

12. Full Text
You can also see
from this example
that you might
have used the
PHRASE
Assisted
Suicide rather
than Euthanasia

13. EJournals From the Catalogue
Click on Library Catalogue

14. Choose Journal Keyword
Type in the Journal Title

15. Select #20 from the List

16. Library Record
If you click on the
Lexis Link here it will
take you straight in to
Lexis to start
searching from the
Journals page

17. Legislation-Searching the Databases
My UniHub>My Study>Databases

18. Click on Letter W

19. Select Westlaw From the List

20. Logging In

21. Username and Password
Same Combination as the Network Log In

22. Westlaw-Main Search Page
You can search either
using the Tabs across
You can use Westlaw to find the top of the page or
Acts,Cases, Current Awareness and the Boxes/Text below
Journal Articles

23. Westlaw-Content
 Provides full text of UK amended legislation
 Full text of EU legislation and case law
 UK court decisions from 1220 from The Law
Reports series published by the ICLR(Incorporated
Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales)
 Other law report series such as Weekly Law Reports
 Selected High Court and Tribunal judgments back
to 1999

24. Westlaw cont‟d-Content
Contains Legal Journals Index
providing full text journal articles for
many titles such as Criminal Law
Review, European Human Rights
Law Review

25. Search Legislation by Title
Consumer Protection Act-example

26. Look at Arrangement of Act and Choose a
Section/Provision

27. Section 10
Repealed

28. Section 10 Repealed October 2005

29. PDF Format
View entire act and refer
to Table of Contents in
the Sidebar to get
updates regarding
provisions Repealed
and In Force

30. Cases
You can search either
using the BROWSE
feature which is
useful if you know the
name of the Law
Report series you
wish to search or the
SEARCH Window
Above

31. Citation Search

32. Result-Click on Weekly Law Reports
This case reported
in several Law
Report series. Full
Text available for
those listed under
Documents

33. Full Text
You can also use
Case Analysis in
the Sidebar if you
want to look at
specific
items, such as a
brief’Digest’ of
the case

34. Case Analysis-Abstract
Quick Reference

35. Search by Party Names

36. Result

37. Westlaw-Subject Searching Cases
Different ways of searching for cases on a
specific subject
We‟ll do a General Search first and then
narrow our search by making it more
specific

38. Cases-Free Text Search
TIP-Type a Phrase in “Quote Marks”
We’ll use the
PHRASE “Defence
of Necessity” as our
search keywords

39. Results-137 Cases

40. Look at Result#4 From this List
Search keywords are
highlighted for you to
see
context/usefulness
in the paragraph

41. Proximity Searching
Narrowing the Search /p= paragraph
Here we are asking
the database to
search for the
PHRASE within the
Same paragraph as
the word TRIDENT

42. Results-Narrowed to Just 1
Click on Show Terms in Context

43. Terms in Context-Usefulness

44. Journal Articles
Full Text and Abstracts
If you want to see
what JOURNALS are
available in FULL
TEXT you can search
using this option

45. Journals-Subject Search
Phrase Search-In Quote Marks

46. Results
Too Large!-Narrow Search

47. Use a Proximity Operator to Narrow the
Search
We’ve added
another keyword
anaesthetic and
asked the
database to search
for it in the same
paragraph as the
phrase

48. Results-Much Fewer
More Specific

49. Terms in Context
Subject Search

50. Click on Show Terms in Context

51. Aid to Check Usefulness of Each Result

52. Lexis Library-Journals

53. See Journal Titles Available
Click on
More
Sources to
see what
titles are
available

54. Legal Journals
Click on That

55. Let‟s Look at New Law Journal
Click on the BROWSE
Link

56. Choose the Date You Need

57. Full Text

58. Journal Search-Using Subject Keywords
“Unfair Dismissal”

59. Results-A Lot!-1394
Title of
article, Date and
Source-Journal
Title is displayed
here

60. Narrow the Search
Search Two Phrases in Same Paragraph
Note!!-To search two
phrases in the same
paragraph use the
format w/p

61. Results-Fewer
Searching More Specifically

62. Cases
Cresswell v Inland Revenue-Example

63. Results
Party
Names and
Legal
Citation, Co
urt in which
case was
heard, Date
Judgment
handed
down and
Source-
wher case
was

64. Full Text
Related Cases, Journal Articles

65. Journal Articles

66. Heinonline-Access from My Library
Choose Law Journal Library

67. Subject Searching
Click on Advanced Search

68. Limiters
Subject Keyword, Date and Articles Only

69. Results
View Matching Text Pages-Context

70. Full Text

71. Tips for Evaluating Websites
1.Authority
Who is responsible for the site?
Is it a reliable organisation or a subject
expert?
Can you trust them?

72. Evaluating Websites(Cont‟d)
2. ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY
 Is the information correct?
 Are the grammar and spelling correct?
 Is it complete or are they just giving one point of
view? Bias?
 Do they have their own agenda?
 Is the information fact or opinion?

73. Websites(Cont‟d)
3.CURRENCY
 Can you tell how up to date it is? Is it regularly
updated?
 You shouldn‟t be quoting out of date information
4. AUDIENCE
 Is the information at the right level to be quoted in
your work?

74. Websites(Cont‟d)
5.FEEL
 Is the site well structured and easy to navigate?
 Are the links from the page up to date and valid?
 If it is well designed and maintained then you can
feel more confident about the information it
provides

75. Citation Style
 For law the „Gold card‟ for style manuals is the
OSCOLA (Oxford) website.
 If you wish to access it I have a link on my Law and
Legal Research Subject page.............see next slide

76. OSCOLA
Subtab Under Information Skills

77. Citing the Law
Referencing and Citations

78. This Presentation Can be Found
On My Subject Guide-Slideshare!