Overview of law
Use this guide to perform background research to refine a research topic, confirm terminology, find legal cases, and get a general understanding before finding books and articles to support a research project.
Getting started with academic research | Overview of law | Recommended databases
Law encyclopedias from Oxford Reference Online
Law encyclopedias from Oxford Reference Online
Search or browse across nine subject encyclopedias and dictionaries with over 12,000 entries. References are linked via Get VText.
Federal & State Cases from LexisNexis
Federal & State Cases from LexisNexis
Part of the legal section of LexisNexis Academic, Federal & State Cases allows searching of U.S. federal and state court cases by legal citation, topic, location, people, and time period. Cases present background information, summaries, opinions, and decisions with additional data supplied by LexisNexis to interpret the cases. 1750s-present.
Federal & State Codes from LexisNexis
Federal & State Codes from LexisNexis
Full text access to U.S. federal codes, the constitution, the Code of Federal Regulations, and the Federal Register including annotations and summaries.
THOMAS from the Library of Congress
THOMAS from the Library of Congress
THOMAS provides full-text information about the activities of Congress: bills and resolutions, the Congressional Record, schedules, committees, presidential nominations, treaties, and other government resources. 1968-present.
Shepard's Citations from LexisNexis
Shepard's Citations from LexisNexis
Shepard's Citations provides a comprehensive case citation and treatment history to verify the validity of case law, statutes, agency opinions, and other legal documents. Only case law is covered in LexisNexis Academic. The Shepard's Citations service also provides a report that shows every opinion where that case has been referenced.
- David R Beagle
- Distance Education & Law Librarian
- (540) 231-9231
- (540) 231-9231
- beagle@vt.edu
-
3045 Newman Library
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0434
United States
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Resource is licensed for Virginia Tech alumni access. Use Alumni Library Portal Sign In to access. Freely accessible database, available to anyone without restriction Sponsored by VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia.
Mobile interface available, see description for link. Screencast tutorial available, icon linked to list. Contents of this database are in Summon.
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Resource provides open access publishing opportunities and open access publications.
Resource provides self archiving opportunities and open access documents.