LIBRARY TOUR FOR PARALEGALS(BESIDES WESTLAW)

E L A I N E S E TT E R G R E N , M . L . I . S

O N L I N E L I B RA R I A N

E S E T T E R G R E N @ G L O B E U N I V E R S I T Y. E D U

March 2011

TODAY’S LESSONS• Search Strategies

• LegalTrac (Gale)

• LexisNexis Academic

• E-books

• Evaluating Legal websites

• FindLaw

• GPOaccess

• MN Statutes

SEARCH STRATEGIESPhrases

Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT

W5

Truncation or wild card

SEARCH STRATEGIESPhrases

SEARCH STRATEGIES

Boolean operators: AND

SEARCH STRATEGIES

Boolean operators: OR

SEARCH STRATEGIES

Boolean operators: NOT

SEARCH STRATEGIES

Boolean operators

(law OR legal) AND copyright NOT music

SEARCH STRATEGIESW5

Near

SEARCH STRATEGIESTruncation or wild card

OR

Examples:wom?nDemocra*

NEED HELP?

Contact me – Elaine Settergren

Paralegal research guidehttp://www.globeeducationnetwork.com/library/research-by-topic/

LEGALTRACAll Secondary Sources

Journal, legal newspaper, and Law Review articles

1,500+ titles (200+ full text)

LEGALTRAC

LEXISNEXIS ACADEMICOver 9,000 news, business, and legal

sources

Primary and secondary800+ secondary sources

LEXISNEXIS ACADEMIC

OTHER DATABASES• Academic Search Premier

• Criminal Justice Periodicals (ProQuest)

• Criminal Justice Collection (Gale)

• ProQuest Newsstand

More: Research by Topic > Criminal Justice Research Guide

E-BOOKS• Use the Library Catalog to search

Examples of E-books:

• Gale encyclopedia of everyday law

• West's encyclopedia of American law

• Deciding communication law

• U.S.A. immigration guide

• Nolo's encyclopedia of everyday law

FREE INFO

Benefits of Free information?

Pitfalls of Free information?

FREE INFOGovernmentFederalState

Law schools

Legal associations

LEGAL WEBSITES – IS IT CRAP?Currency?

Reliability?

Authority?

Purpose?

http://www.bankruptcyinformation.com/MN.htm

Vs.

http://www.lawmoose.com/index.cfm?Action=Library.&Topic=MN165544

FINDLAWhttp://www.findlaw.com/

Examples of information you’ll find:

Legal dictionary

Cases, Codes, Statutes, and Regulations

Legal forms and contracts

Legal news

Directories of Lawyers

GPOACCESS

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/

Official, published e-versions of federal government information from all three branches

Examples of Information you’ll find:

Code of Federal Regulations: Title 28 - Judicial Administration

Locate Federal Officials: U.S. Government Manual

U.S. Constitution

United States Code

U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary

U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

U.S. Supreme Court

Judicial Branch Websites

MN STATUTEShttp://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/statutes.asp

Statutes, laws, and rules

Also bills, session info, and other congressional information

OTHER USEFUL WEBSITESMany, many available!GovernmentSchoolsOrganizations/Associations

Questions? Comments?

Contact the Online Librarian:

Elaine Settergren

esettergren@globeuniversity.edu

http://globeeducationnetwork.com/library/