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Research sources for Law

Richard Pears

University Library

Outline

• Effective searching

• Range of UK legal information sources

• Legal citation

• Getting help

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Effective searching

• Definitions and synonyms

• Use “ ” for phrases e.g. “Queen’s speech”

• Boolean operators: AND, ORLaw AND “human rights” AND “united kingdom”

Law OR legislation

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Effective searching

• Truncation e.g. poli* will find: police, policy, policies, politics, political etc.

• Wildcards to pick up spelling variations e.g. organi?ation

• Use Advanced search option/ help

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The Library Web page for Law

www.durham.ac.uk/library/law

Online tutorials for Westlaw, Lexis, Hein and for OSCOLA

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https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/law/info_skills/

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Library catalogue

• Search for books• Renew books on loan• Reserve books you need• Search for journals by

TITLE• Connect to e-journals• NB not all Law journals

indexed

Catalogue examples

• How many books are there by Michael Bohlander?

• How many sources are there on money laundering?

• When does online access to the journal Modern Law Review begin?

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Legal citations

• Abbreviations used for publication titles

• Use Cardiff index to identify publication name• Citing the Law tutorial on right of library law webpage

EXAMPLE:

R. (on the application of Begum) v Denbigh High School Governors [2006] 2 ALL ER 487

• Break it down into publication, year, volume and page/case number• publication = ALL ER • year = 2006, volume = 2, page/case number = 487

Legal citation

• Cardiff index to legal abbreviations

• OSCOLA referencing guidelines

• Citing the law tutorial

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Databases

Look in Databases on library law webpage

•For journals use: Westlaw, Lexis, HeinOnline, Web of Knowledge•For legislation use: Westlaw and Lexis•For cases: Westlaw and Lexis•For European Union use: Westlaw•For newspapers: Nexis UK

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Legislation

• Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments in UK• Devolved assemblies legislation• European Union legislation

EXAMPLES• Human Rights Act 1998• Deregulation (Greyhound Racing) Order 1995, SI

1995/3231• Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union

and the Treaty establishing the European Community [2007] OJ C306/01

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Cases

• Reports of cases in courts• Many publications containing cases, no single publication for all

cases• Search in Westlaw and Lexis Library

EXAMPLE:R. (on the application of Begum) v Denbigh High School

Governors [2006] 2 ALL ER 487

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Journals

• Several articles in each volume• Volumes weekly, monthly, seasonly• No single collection• Search for journals by title in library catalogue• Search for articles in Westlaw, Lexis, HeinOnline, Web

of Knowledge

EXAMPLEJ Young, 'The Constitutional Limits of Judicial Activism:

Judicial Conduct of International Relations and Child Abduction' (2003) 66 MLR 823

Database examples

• Using Westlaw, find out who wrote the article Choosing laws, choosing families: images of law, love and authority in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• Using Lexis Library, find [2004] QB 1231. who were the parties in this case?

• Which publication has the abbreviation IRLR?

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Other sources

• Hansard: Record of discussions in UK Parliament

• Law Commission: ‘to keep the law under review and to recommend reform where it is needed’

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Other sources

• COPAC for books and reports outside Durham

• Web of Knowledge for social sciences articles• Law Commission• Hansard• Newspapers

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New! DISCOVER• Search across library, museum and archive collections• Print and online sources • Follow links to connect to publishers’ websites for ebooks and ejournals

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Beyond Durham

• UK and international theses

• Document delivery service

• SCONUL Access

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References and Bibliographies

• ALWAYS keep a full and accurate record of your information sources

• Use the Library Catalogue to e-mail references for saving

• Make sure you refer correctly to other authors within your work

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Where to get help

• Enquiries desk

• On-line enquiry service:

• http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/using/enquiries/

• Academic Support Team:

Richard Pears

Do you think that what you learnt in this session will be useful to you in future?

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