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F&W ECOL 515: Natural Resources Policy (Spring 2021) : Law reviews & legal decisions (judiciary)
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How to read a court decision
Roosevelt University Library's guide Criminal Justice: How to read a court decision
Law review articles
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
- Use the "advanced search" by clicking the three horizontal lines in the top left corner, and selecting Advanced search in the drop-down menu.
- 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")
- 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
- Look for heading "What are you interested In?" under "Guided Search" on the left.
- Click Law Reviews.
- Click in the box under "...Search in all Law Reviews for" and type your search term(s).
- Optional: click Just the latest under the heading "Choose Date range" and select a different date range.
- Click Search.
Spotting legal citations
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).
Component of the citation | Brown v. Board of Education | 347 | U.S. | 483 | (1954) |
Component refers tp | Parties | Volume | Name of "reporter" (publication) decision is published in | page number decisoin starts on | year |
Finding texts of legal decisions/cases
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.)
- Look for heading "What are you interested In?" under "Guided Search" on the left.
- Click Cases.
- 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.
- Click in the box under "...about" and type your search term(s).
- Optional: click All Dates under the heading "All Dates" and select a date range.
- 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.
Librarian
Steenbock Librarian

Karen Dunn
Contact:
Steenbock Library;
Science & Engineering Libraries (SEL)
I am happy to schedule consultations!
Science & Engineering Libraries (SEL)
I am happy to schedule consultations!