Law Research Guide: Home

Spiral Staircase, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

Chicago style

Style and Citation Guides
Bowdoin Library maintains this list of resources for Chicago, Bluebook, and other styles.

Bluebook style

The bluebook : a uniform system of citation
Main Ref Desk KF245 .B58 20th 2015
The standard legal citation guide. I recommend the Quick Style Guide.

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (LII)
Peter W. Martin, Cornell Law School.

Other styles

Guide to foreign and international legal citations, New York University School of Law
Main Ref K89 .G84 2006

Bowdoin Library general research guides for Government and Legal Studies

• U.S. Government
• Congressional Documents
• Presidential Documents
• Comparative Government
• International Relations
• Law Research Guide
• Documents from the Pre-Federal Period (pre-1789)
• U.S. Government Documents Reference

Westlaw

Full-text subscription database of case law, law reviews, and news.

• To find U.S. law review articles, choose "All content" > "Secondary Sources" > "Law Reviews & Journals". Alternatively, from a results list, if available, choose "Secondary Sources" > "Law Reviews & Journals".
• To find cases, choose "All content" > "cases".
  • To find a particular case by its citation, use the search box in the basic search.
  • For more options, choose "All content" > Cases > "Advanced Search".
• To search the U.S. Code, choose "Federal Materials" > "United States Code Annotated (USCA)".
• To search U.S. public laws, choose "Federal materials" > "Federal Proposed & Enacted Legislation" > "U.S. Public Laws".
• To find other materials that cite a case, law, law review article, etc. that is displayed in the database, click on the "Citing References" tab and limit as needed.
• Black's Law Dictionary is under "All content" > "Secondary Sources" and in the right column.

Help: "Campus Help Guide" [i.e. "Introduction to legal research on Westlaw Next"] is linked to at the bottom of every Westlaw webpage. Other guides, including Searching with Boolean Terms and Connectors are also available.

Nexis Uni

Full-text subscription database of federal and state cases, statutes, law review articles, news, and more.

• Law review articles.
  • Choose "Guided Search" > "Law Reviews".
  • For more search options, choose: "Advanced Search" > "Select a specific content type" > Law Reviews and Journals > Law Reviews and Journals.
• Cases.
  • Simple search: "Guided Search" > Cases > [choose jurisdiction] > [enter search term(s) or citation, e.g. 472 U.S. 38].
  • For more options (including searching for a particular case by its citation), instead choose: "Advanced Search" > "Select a specific content type" > Cases > Cases.
• Citing cases and law review articles. Begin by viewing the case of interest.
  • For citing cases, choose, at the right: either "Citing Decisions" or "Shepardize® this document".
  • For citing law review articles, choose, at the right: "Other Citing Sources", then narrow to "Law Reviews".
• U.S. Code.
  • To find by citation, choose: "Advanced Search" > "Select a specific content type" > "Statutes and Legislation" > Codes > Citation > [enter a citation to United States Code Service, e.g. 50 USCS 3002].
  • To search the U.S. Code, choose "Advanced Search" > "Select a specific content type" > Codes > [search] > limit to "Sources": USCS - United States Code Service - Titles 1 through 54.
  • To search the U.S. Code, choose: Menu > "All Sources" > "Search Within Sources" > "USCS - United States Code Service - Titles 1 through 54" > [drop down menu next to "USCS - United States Code Service - Titles 1 through 54"]: "Add source as a search filter"; or,
• United States Statutes at Large.
  • Choose: Menu > "All Sources" > "Search Within Sources" > "United States Statutes at Large" > [drop down menu next to "United States Statutes at Large"]: "Add source as a search filter".
  • Choose: "Advanced Search" > "Select a specific content type" > "Statutes and Legislation" > "Public Laws/ALS" > [search] > limit to "Jurisdiction": "U.S. Federal" > limit to "Sources": "United States Statutes at Large".

Help (at the top right of the search screen) or Top 10 Nexis Uni™ Features to Explore.

HeinOnline's Law Journal Library

From the "All Collections" drop-down (at the top left), choose "Law Journal Library". Coverage from the first issue of "more than 2300 law and law-related periodicals". Our strongest database for foreign law reviews.

Help: Training Guides, including Advanced Search Syntax.

Index to Legal Periodicals and books, 1982-
Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective, 1908-1981

International coverage and access to law reviews, scholarly articles, jurisdictional surveys, legislation, and more. Search on a citation to a case in the "Court Cases" field. Search on a citation to the U.S. Code using the form "8 U.S.C. 1158" in the "Statute" field. The "check availability" link connects to full-text in most cases.

JSTOR

An online archive of scholarly journals, including a number of respected law reviews. This can be an especially useful database to search when looking for law reviews for cases decided prior to 1982.

Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation from Library of Congress.