FW ECOL 515: Natural Resources Policy (Fall 2024) : Law reviews & legal decisions (judiciary)

Law reviews are articles published by law schools. They are not court cases.   You can search for law review articles in the following library databases:

• Google Scholar  
  1. Use the "advanced search" by clicking the three horizontal lines in the top left corner, and selecting Advanced search in the drop-down menu.
  2. Type words that describe your subject in one of three boxes:
     • the "with all the words" box (automatically connects each word with "AND")
     • the "with the exact phrase box" (automatically searches your terms as a phrase)
     • the "with at least one of the words" box (automatically connects each word with "OR") 
  3. Type the words law review in the box next to "Return articles published in."
• Law Journal Library (Hein Online)
  • To search for articles from law reviews, in the "full text" search box, type your search words, the word AND, and the words "law review" in quotation marks.
• Nexis Uni
  1. Click All Content Types to the left of the magnifying glass.
  2. Click Legal in the box that appears below All Content Types.
  3. Click Law Reviews and Journals.
  4. Click in search box and type your search term(s).
  5. Click the magnifying glass to the right of the search box.

At the most basic level, a citation to a legal case looks like this:  ________ v. ________

Here's a complete citation to a legal case:  Brown v. Board of Education., 347 U.S. 483 (1954). 

To help you find the texts of legal decisions (aka "case law,") the UW-Madison Law Library recommends searching...

• Google Scholar  
  • You can limit to case law/legal decisions by clicking the button next to Case law under the main search box.  

   

• Nexis Uni (Subscription database; available on- and off-campus to UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff.)
  1. Look for heading "What are you interested In?" under "Guided Search" on the left.
  2. Click Cases.
  3. In the box to the right, labeled "Which jurisdiction?" Federal Cases will be selected by default.
     • If you want to search federal cases, don't click anything in this box.
     • If you want to search state cases, click State Cases. A box will appear below; type the name of the state you're interested in.
  4. Click in the box under "Search in all Cases for" and type your search term(s).
  5. Optional: click All Dates under the heading "All Dates" and select a date range.
  6. Click Search.

The following guides have links to additional sources for case law/legal decisions...

• Wisconsin Legal Information Sources Guide: Case Law:  This guide, from the UW-Madison Law Library, compiles information about sources of authoritative legal information for Wisconsin attorneys, emphasizing reliable sources of free and low-cost information.

   

• Case Law Research Guide, from Georgetown Law Library.
  • The introduction has a section on "Basic Case Citation," which can help you read a case citation.
  • There's also a page with Online Resources for Cases. 

Roosevelt University Library's guide Criminal Justice: How to read a court decision