Library instruction for UC San Diego POLI 104

1. Library Research Step by Step
For POLI 104J&K

2. The Research Process in a Nutshell
1. Start with a question or topic.
2. Think about where the answer—or a piece of
the puzzle—might have been articulated.
3. Choose tools that will help you find those
publications/information sources.
4. Use those tools to find information you can
use.
5. Repeat.

3. 0. Before you get started
• The licenses for most of our research tools
require that users are on UCSD IP addresses
– Are you on the wireless network at UCSD?
• Make sure you’re using the UCSD-PROTECTED network.
– Are you off-campus?
• Make sure you’re using the VPN

4. 1. Choose your research question,
hypothesis, or topic and keywords
• Develop your research question, hypothesis, or thesis
statement—or define your specific case
– When is a restaurant owner legally liable under California’s
version of the Dram Shop Act? How does this compare with
other states?
• Break that statement into key concepts—don’t forget to
think about jurisdiction(s) that apply,
– Dram Shop Act, California
• Think of other ways to phrase those concepts. Use
synonyms. Consider more specific words (to narrow
your focus) or more general terms (to expand your
search), e.g.
– Restaurant: establishment, server, owner…
– Dram Shop Act
• Liquor: alcohol, intoxication…
• Liability: liable…
– Jurisdiction:
• California
• Other States
• US federal?

5. Brainstorm Keywords

6. Try it yourself – 2 minutes
1. Take 1 minute to jot down your research
topic, so at least you have an idea on paper,
even if it’s vague. (No one else will see this).
2. Take another 1 minute to brainstorm: What
are some terms you would expect to see in a
publication about your problem?

7. 2. Choose tools that might be useful
for this project.
• You want a variety of
– Background sources
– Exhibits or Evidence sources
– Argument sources
– Method or Theory sources
• Each tool helps you find a specific,
limited kind and amount of information.
• Knowing which tools might help you find
what you're looking for will save you lots
of time.

8. Legal Materials
“The Law” is rules developed by
• Legislative bodies
• Administrative agencies
• Courts

9. The Legal Research Processcredit: Sarah Gotschall

10. Books (treatises, hornbooks)
Treatises are books or sets of books that
cover a single legal topic in depth.
Look in an online library catalog like
(UC San Diego’s library catalog)
• Tip: Many of the Library’s books are now
ebooks. Use to find the link.
• Tip: Not enough at UC San Diego, or the
book you want checked out?
– Try to request books from other
San Diego libraries
– Try to request books from other
University of California libraries

11. Law Reviews
The scholarly journals of the legal world
• Use these to
– Get background info
– Understand the legal discourse
– Save yourself time
• Avoid reinventing the wheel compiling primary sources
• Discover other secondary sources on your topic

12. Primary Sources (Primary Authority)
• Legislation
– Bills (proposed laws)
– Statutes (passed laws)
– US Code, state codes (laws arranged by subject)
• Court opinions
• Regulations
– Federal Register
– Code of Federal Regulations

13. Other Primary Sources
Primary sources are materials that
document the event when it happened—
or as close to when it happened as
possible.
Items in the Library are cataloged in
and other resources are
available in specialized databases.
Examples include:
• News: particularly good for accounts of
sensational cases
• Government publications and official
documents
• First person accounts: diaries, letters,
oral histories, blogs…

14. Legal Databases
The Library has three major databases for finding law
reviews and primary source material.
• Westlaw Next
– Best bet for appellate level cases, law reviews, and other
secondary sources. Has proprietary commentary.
• LexisNexis Academic
– Best bet for appellate level cases, law reviews, and some
other secondary sources. Has proprietary commentary.
• HeinOnline
– Best bet for primary sources and law reviews

15. Try it yourself – 5 minutes
1. Take 1 minute think about which types of
sources (books, scholarly articles, news,
reports, etc.) are most useful for this project.
2. Then spend 4 minutes reading descriptions of
tools (databases) and choose at least 3 that
look like they will lead you to useful sources.

16. The Librarian’s Favorites
• Law Reviews
– HeinOnline; Westlaw; LexisNexis Academic
• Legal primary sources: caselaw
– Westlaw; LexisNexis Academic
• Legal primary sources: government information
– ProQuest Congressional, HeinOnline
• Legal primary sources: state research
– HeinOnline (finding aids)
– Westlaw; LexisNexis Academic (state codes)
• Scholarly articles
– all ProQuest databases; all EBSCOhost databases
– Melvyl
• News
– Access World News; LexisNexis; Factiva

17. 3. Choose your search strategies for
each research tool.
• In most databases, you can combine terms
with and (both terms must appear in the hit)and or (one
term must appear in the hit—for synonyms or evenly
weighted terms)
– Dram Shop and California; alcohol or intoxication
• In many databases, you can use a symbol such as * or !
to take the place of letters to get hits with multiple
endings of a word
– intoxicat*
• In many databases, you can combine words together into
phrases using quotation marks
• Example searches:
california and dram shop
california and (alcohol or intoxicat*) and liab*

20. Try it yourself – 1 minute
• Take 1 minute to develop a keyword search
strategy using some of the keywords you
brainstormed in part 1.
– As appropriate, use AND’s, OR’s, truncation,
and/or phrases

21. 4. Refine your search with limits.
• Most databases have some sort of limits
you can apply, for example:
– date ranges
– publication types (e.g., scholarly
articles, dissertations, book chapters, etc.)
– languages
– peer reviewed articles
• When you find good hits, look at the subject headings. These are controlled
vocabulary assigned to describe the topic in the database. Also skim the abstracts
for additional keywords. Try running new searches using those terms.
• Find more citations by looking at the bibliography/cited references of sources you
find. Sometimes these citations are included in the database. (Also read the
literature review in the article itself.)
• Find more citations by looking at sources that cite the sources you find. Look for a
times cited link in the database. (If your database doesn’t have this, Google
Scholar does.) This is an especially good way to find core articles (and theory!) on
your topic.

22. Limits screenshot

24. 5. Get the actual item.
• If the full text isn’t available in your search
results. Look for the button.
• Link to full text if available.
• No full text?
– Try for the print
• No UCSD access at all?
– You can usually request the item from another
library using the link.
– For books, try or

25. 6. Get the citation information. You
need this for your bibliography.
You list the works you cite so that readers
interested in your research can find and read the
resources you used to draw your conclusions.
• Email records to yourself as a backup.
• Some databases can export the citation in a
specific format (e.g. APA, Chicago, MLA)
• Use Zotero, EndNote Web, or Mendeley to
manage, store, and format your citations

26. Most plagiarism that happens at UC
San Diego is accidental.

27. 7. Evaluate the items you find.
• Does it answer the
question?
• What are the
author’s credentials?
– And what sources do
they cite?
• Is the source current
enough for the kind
of research you're
doing?

28. 8. Try different tools & repeat
until you have enough
to write your paper!
• Check the help screens or guides to
each database for specifics on
combining your terms and whether your
results are ranked by date or relevance.
• When you find good hits, look at the
subject headings/descriptors. Try
running new searches using those
terms.

29. To Recap
1. Start with a question or topic.
2. Think about where the answer—or a
piece of the puzzle—might have been
articulated.
3. Choose tools that will help you find
those publications/information
sources.
4. Use those tools to find information
you can use.
5. Repeat.