Research Guides: Legal Research: Finding Secondary Sources (Articles) for Legal Research

Databases for Secondary Sources on Law

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good starting point when researching topics that intersect with multiple disciplines.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles
Coverage dates: 1887-present; varies by title
Language: English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, French, Chinese, Arabic etc.
Keywords: ASP
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for scholarly content in the humanities and social sciences in a major database that many students are familiar with from high school.
Content type: Journal articles, eBooks, images, primary sources
Many journals include only backfiles and do not include current content. Use other databases to find the most recent issues of these journals.
Language: English, French, German, Spanish
CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for finding information on bill profiles and congressional floor votes as well as on other American government, politics, and current affairs topics.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, books, magazine articles, biographies, data
Coverage dates: 1789-present
CQ Press Library includes the following resources: CQ Almanac; CQ Researcher Plus Archive; CQ Magazine; Politics in America; Supreme Court Yearbook; Voting and Elections Collection.
Language: English
Keywords: Congressional Quarterly

LEG/EX
Legislative Explorer: Legislative Explorer:
Data Driven Discovery
A one of a kind interactive visualization that allows anyone to explore actual patterns of lawmaking in Congress.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for conducting wide reaching searches of the scholarly literature and exploring citation based connections between articles.
Content type: Abstracts of scholarly articles, books, book chapters, patents
Start your search in Google Scholar from the library website to get access to open access materials and items only available through Library subscriptions.
Language: English
Westlaw Campus This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Main database for legal research with access to federal and state cases, statutes (laws), court rules, and regulations as well as federal administrative materials and U.S. Supreme Court briefs.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, court case documents, statutes, briefs, reference materials, newspaper reports, data
Coverage dates: 1945-present
Language: English
Keywords: West law Thomson Reuters
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for comprehensive coverage of news and current events, government, business, medical, and legal topics, as well as general reference information.
Content type: Newspaper articles, trade journal articles, broadcast transcripts, financial reports, federal and state case law, medical abstracts, corporate profiles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Language: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese
Keywords: Lexis Nexis

Databases for Law Journal Articles

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good starting point when researching topics that intersect with multiple disciplines.
Content type: Scholarly articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, trade journal articles
Coverage dates: 1887-present; varies by title
Language: English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, French, Chinese, Arabic etc.
Keywords: ASP
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for comprehensive coverage of news and current events, government, business, medical, and legal topics, as well as general reference information.
Content type: Newspaper articles, trade journal articles, broadcast transcripts, financial reports, federal and state case law, medical abstracts, corporate profiles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Language: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese
Keywords: Lexis Nexis
Westlaw Campus This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Main database for legal research with access to federal and state cases, statutes (laws), court rules, and regulations as well as federal administrative materials and U.S. Supreme Court briefs.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, court case documents, statutes, briefs, reference materials, newspaper reports, data
Coverage dates: 1945-present
Language: English
Keywords: West law Thomson Reuters
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for legal research with access to articles from a large collection of law journals and legal sources.
Content type: Scholarly articles, government reports, primary sources, case studies
Coverage dates: 1776-present
HeinOnline includes access to law journals (back to the 19th century), international and US treaties (back to 1776), out-of-copyright legal classics, the federal register (back to 1936), and Supreme Court slip opinions from 2002. All material is fully searchable and in PDF format, including all charts, graphs, pictures, photographs, and footnotes.
Language: English
Keywords: Hein Online

Finding Scholarly, Peer Reviewed Articles

These are just a few of our databases. Check out our Database List by Title and Subject.

If the library does not have something you need, request it through Resource Sharing (ILL).

If you find an article you want but don't see the full-text, click the button, which will link you to the full-text (if available).