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CJT 156: Everyday Law

Legal Research

Legal Research in a Nutshell by Morris Cohen
Call Number: General Collection; KF240 .C54 2016

ISBN: 9780314147073

Publication Date: 2016

Provides an overview of basic research methods, discussing case law, statutes, secondary sources, and other research tools.

Legal Information Resource Center
This database provides information from Ebooks on how to go about legal research.

Law-Related Databases

Criminal Justice
Informs the research process for researchers who are studying law, law enforcement, or terrorism, training for paralegal service, preparing for a career in homeland security, delving into forensic science, investigating crime scenes, developing policy, and much more.
Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.

How to search using the Nexis Uni database

Legal Source
Providing indexing and full-text coverage of respected scholarly law journals, Legal Source is a database for current issues, studies, thoughts and trends of the legal world
Legal Trac
Find articles in all major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals, and legal newspapers. Included are articles on federal and state cases, laws and regulations, legal practice, and taxation.

Primary and Secondary Sources

Legal Research involves the location and analysis of primary and secondary sources

Primary sources in legal research comprise:

Case law: Judicial decisions or "judge-made" law and related resources such as legal briefs and oral arguments
Statutes: Legislative law--bills passed by Congress
Regulations: Rules developed by the Executive branch agencies to interpret and define broader statutory law

Secondary sources for legal research include:

Legal encyclopedias
Law reviews and other articles from law journals
Newspapers and magazines
Books

Last Updated: Sep 5, 2025 8:12 AM
URL: https://libguides.wccnet.edu/CJT156
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Subjects: Criminal Justice

Tags: Legal System, Legal Writing, legislature