Scholarly articles contain extensive analysis on a wide range of topics and also include a large amount of footnotes to additional sources. Specific legal topics such as banking, entertainment, sports or international law have many different journals dedicated to the topic. By looking at journal articles a researcher can be directed to key cases and statutes along with gaining an overview of a complex subject.

 

 

 

Westlaw and Lexis offer complex searching options that can be highly specialized. However, an index will do much of the work for a researcher so one spends less time searching.

 

                 Legaltrac (1980 – Present)

                 Location: Charlottelaw.org --> Law Library -->Library Databases --> Legaltrac

 

Legaltrac indexes articles from over 900 law reviews and journals by subject. For example, searching for the subject “Antonin Scalia” on the main screen retrieves over 400 relevant articles spread across over 20 subdivisions.

 

            Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP)

            Location: Westlaw: CILP database. (Previous 8 weeks available)

 

The Current Index to Legal Periodicals indexes articles faster than Legaltrac or other legal periodical indexes. By using CILP one can update secondary research to the latest publications.

 

Location in Print: Atrium, KF 62.5 W45 and KF 62 1972 .L38

Location Online: Westlaw: USCA and Lexis: USCS

 

Both the West and Lexis annotated codes have research guides following the code sections with references to journal articles. As with any code research in print, be sure to check the pocket parts for the latest references.

 

Location: Charlottelaw.org -->Law Library -->Library Databases --> HeinOnline --> Law Library Journal

 

HeinOnline doesn’t have the search capabilities of Lexis/Westlaw or the indexing functions of Legaltrac or CILP, but it does offer the widest dates of coverage. The search engine on HeinOnline is improving and currently allows searches by citation, title, author, full-text and year.

 

Location: JLR database

 

Westlaw’s JLR does not index articles, but does allow a researcher to search for articles with Westlaw’s connectors and expanders searches.

 

Lexis: Law Reviews and Journals  

Location: ALLUS database

 

Lexis’ law review and journal database offers similar search functions as Westlaw.  The coverage dates and titles available will differ from Westlaw so be sure to check both databases.

           

 

Lexis and Westlaw, in addition to search capabilities, also offer the full text of journal articles. The formatting can be difficult to read – footnotes are printed at the end of each article and connected to the text by hyperlinks. As an alternative to Westlaw or Lexis, HeinOnline and print offer an easier to read option.

 

HeinOnline  

Location: Charlottelaw.org --> Law Library --> Library Databases --> HeinOnline --> Law Library Journal

Hein reproduces articles in the original printed format as pdfs, making it easy to read both the text and footnotes.  

 

            Print

            Location: Compact Shelving and Off-Site Storage

Sometimes having a print copy of a journal is easier to read and use. Recent journals are located in compact shelving and older volumes are located in the off site storage. If you need an older volume stop by the reference desk and a librarian will retrieve your request.