Welcome
This research guide is designed for students doing research for the FYS 'Law and Culture'. If you run into any obstacles, don't hesitate to book a research session. ~ Rosalind Tedford
Getting Started with Background Sources
Before getting started with policy research, it is a good idea to start with some background and context to the issues you are investigating. The sources below will help you get to that information quickly.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowSearch across hundreds of subject encyclopedias and other referece works. A great place to find background information on almost any research topic. Includes subject trees, pro/con resources, links to scholarly articles and more.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new windowSearch across hundreds of subject encyclopedias and other reference works. A great place to find background information on almost any research topic. Includes a topic finder for help with narrowing or broadening your research topic. Coverage: varies
Legal Statutes
Legal statutes exist at the federal level in the US Code, and at the state level in all 50 states. Below are links to find the codes. It can help to have the code citation. A United States Code citation includes a title number and section number. For example, 4 U.S.C. § 3 refers to section 3 of title 4 of the United States Code. You can also search by word or phrase on the code pages to find what you are looking for.
Court Cases
We have several ways you can locate court cases:
- Supreme Court Insight This link opens in a new windowContains full opinions US Supreme Court including per curiam decisions, dockets, oral arguments, joint appendices and amici briefs, with harmonized subject and organization indexing. Supreme Court Insight also includes Supreme Court Insight Certiorari Denied. Coverage: 1933-Present
- Nexis Uni (Formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new windowYou will need to select "Cases" as your search and "All available dates" -- within Cases you can choose specific courts if you want to.
Finding Scholarly Journal Articles
- HeinOnline Law Journal Library This link opens in a new windowContains more than 2,000 law and law-related periodicals. Coverage generally begins with the first issue published, so contains over a century of law and legal scholarship.
- Nexis Uni (Formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new windowYou can select Law Reviews to search in Nexis Uni and put in the case name or the topic.
Databases from Related Fields
- America: History and Life This link opens in a new windowSearch for articles about the history and culure of the United States and Canada. Publications include peer-reviewed journals, magazines, dissertations, books, and more. Access is limited to six simultaneous users. Note: For world history topics, use the Historical Abstracts database. Coverage: 1964-
- Criminal Justice Database This link opens in a new windowContains supporting research on crime, its causes and impacts, legal and social implications, and litigation and crime trends. It also includes correctional and law enforcement trade publications, crime reports, crime blogs, and other material relevant for researchers or those preparing for careers in criminal justice, law enforcement, and related fields. Coverage: 1995-
- ERIC (via EBSCO) This link opens in a new windowIndexes and abstracts education journals and documents published by the Educational Resource Information Center of the US Department of Education. Coverage: 1967-
- ProQuest Sociology Database This link opens in a new windowThis database covers the international literature of sociology and social work, including culture and social structure, history and theory of sociology, social psychology, substance abuse and addiction and more. This collection provides full-text coverage of many core titles included in Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts. Coverage: 1985-
Other Librarians
- Social Sciences Librarians CalendarClick on Social Sciences on the left to get access to the joint calendar!
