Online Legal Research: Secondary Sources

Transcription

1 Online Legal Research: Secondary Sources This guide will help you to find journal articles on a particular subject using the various legal resources available at SOAS FINDING TEXTBOOKS Use the Library Catalogue ( to see if SOAS has a copy of a book o Use keywords for a particular subject o Browse the shelves at a particular classmark (e.g. A for books on English Contract Law) Use InforM25 ( to see if it s available elsewhere in London Use COPAC ( to see if it s available within a research library (including the British Library) Use WorldCat ( to see if it s available worldwide in which case you can order as an inter-library loan FINDING SPECIFIC JOURNALS DECIPHERING A REFERENCE If you have an abbreviation you don t understand (e.g. EJIL) Use Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations ( Check the preferred abbreviation

2 FINDING JOURNAL TITLES IN PRINT Use the Library Catalogue ( You cannot search for journal articles only the journal title FINDING JOURNAL TITLES ONLINE Use the A-Z Electronic Journals database ( You cannot search for journal articles only the journal title Search by subject, to see what journals are available online for a particular subject Search by Title Displays each database the journal is available in Click on the title to be taken to that database Shows the coverage for each database Provides information on accessing each database

3 FINDING JOURNAL TITLES NOT AVAILABLE AT SOAS Check to see if it s available in other institutions: Use Union List of Serials ( to see if it s available in any University of London library, Use InforM25 ( to see if it s available elsewhere in London Use COPAC ( to see if it s available within a research library (including the British Library) Use WorldCat ( to see if it s available worldwide in which case you can order as an inter-library loan WESTLAW UK ( FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES USING LEGAL DATABASES Use the Legal Journals Index to find articles from UK and EU published journals Contains summaries of articles in over 430 journals published in the UK and EU Only some journals will be available in full-text. To find articles not available in full text use the A-Z Electronic Journals Database Journals Tab Search the Legal Journals Index by article title, author or keyword Browse through article abstracts or full text articles by publication title Advanced Search In Services click on Westlaw International to search for selected international journals Use Advanced Search for more detailed searching Find articles citing particular case law or legislation

4 WESTLAW INTERNATIONAL ( Access through Westlaw UK o Click on Services > Westlaw International Contains full text of selected international journals Use Search the Westlaw Directory to find specific materials. Use title of resource only Use Find By Citation to find international materials with a citation only Browse through International / Worldwide Materials or Law Reviews LEXISLIBRARY ( Contains full text of selected international journals Use the Journals tab for more advanced searching Search for a particular journal article or find a journal title

5 HEINONLINE ( Use to find International and US journals Contains an electronic archive of over 800 International & US legal journals Date range varies according to journal title, earliest 1875 and latest one year ago Main Screen: Use the Law Journal Library to access all journals Use International & Non-US Law Journals to search for international journals only Search Screen: Use Search to search by Keyword or for more advanced searching Use Citation Navigator to Search by citation Browse by title

6 Results: Browse through volume contents Articles are scanned images of printed pages Articles can be downloaded or printed, but not sent by INDEX TO FOREIGN LEGAL PERIODICALS ( Use to find journal articles from around the world (excluding UK, EU and the US) Multilingual index to articles and book reviews appearing in approx. 540 legal journals published worldwide Provides in-depth coverage of public and private international law, comparative and foreign law, and the law of all jurisdictions other than the United States, the United Kingdom., Canada and Austria Does not provide full-text articles To Search: Search by Keyword or Citation Limit search by date

7 Results: Article details can be printed, downloaded or ed Provides full bibliographical details of articles Click on SFX to see if an article is available electronically or is held by SOAS or another library FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES USING NON-LAW SPECIFIC DATABASES IBSS (INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES) ( Gives bibliographic details about books, journal articles and book reviews relating to the social sciences Core subjects: Anthropology, Economics, Politics and Sociology Area studies: includes Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Development studies, Environmental Studies, Education, Management, Policy Studies, International Relations and Media and Communication. Coverage: 1951 onwards Bibliographic database with links to full text articles and holdings in SOAS and other libraries Part of EbscoHost database (see below) , print or download results

8 ISI WEB OF SCIENCE/KNOWLEDGE ( Provides access to three multidisciplinary databases (Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index). These databases fully index core scholarly articles, book reviews, letters and editorials. Social Sciences Citation Index covers disciplines such as Anthropology, Economics, Education, Geography, History, Law, Linguistics, Philosophy, Politics, Social Issues and Sociology. Coverage: 1956 onwards , print or download results EBSCOHOST ( EBSCOhost is a journal indexing and full text article service. Divided into different databases (Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, IBSS, Communications & Mass Media Complete, Regional Business News and Library Information Science & Technology Abstracts) Coverage: dates vary; whole back runs of journals or just current. , print or download results

9 JSTOR ( Full-text journal archive of journals available online not current Titles are available from their first issues up to between 3 and 5 years from the most recently published issue. Coverage: wide range of subjects, including African Studies, Anthropology, Art, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Finance, Geography, History (general and regional), Latin American Studies, Middle East Studies, Politics, Religion, Slavic Studies, Sociology and Statistics. Date range varies according to journal title Print or download results INGENTACONNECT ( Provides access to journals, with bibliographic information and abstracts Also provides full-text access, free-of-charge, where SOAS subscribes to the journal Subjects covered include: Anthropology, archaeology, architecture, business, economics, education, finance, gender studies, history, linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, political science, international relations, religion, sociology, law and urban studies. Full text coverage varies with each journal , print or download results

10 SEARCH TIPS The way in which you will need to enter your terms/keywords will vary from website to website (it is advisable to look at the help or search tips of a site, before using it) it is important to know a few basic search strategies. Boolean operators o AND finds records containing both terms. e.g. Human AND Rights o OR finds records containing either term (broadening your search). e.g. Human OR Rights o NOT will help to narrow your search e.g. Human NOT Rights o ADJ finds records containing both terms within a certain number of words of each other. e.g. Human adj5 Rights retrieves the words human and rights within 5 words of each other o finds an exact phrase, e.g. international court of justice Truncation and Wildcards o $ truncates a search term, retrieving unlimited suffix variations. e.g. raci$ will retrieve racist, Racial, Racially etc. o # replaces one character in a word. e.g. Organi#ation retrieves Organisation and Organization o? replaces no characters or one character. e.g. Favo?red retrieves Favoured and Favored FURTHER HELP Ask the Enquiry Desk Contact the Law Librarian (Sarah Spells) o In person on Level E o Call o Libenquiry@soas.ac.uk o In person in Room D18 o Call o ss104@soas.ac.uk