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Copyright © 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
Table of Contents
Introduction ....................................................................... 3
WestlawNext
Statutes ............................................................................. 7
Reporters; Digests; Validating Cases ................................ 12
Secondary Authorities ....................................................... 16
LexisNexis
Statutes ............................................................................. 20
Reporters; Digests; Validating Cases ................................ 24
Secondary Authorities ....................................................... 29
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
INTRODUCTION
WestlawNext
Copy-&-paste the citation. Use the third icon from the left to print.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
LexisNexis
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
Westlaw Statutes
I. Research Path – Three ways to search statutes:
A. Citation – use the citation to the statute for your search
B. Subject
(1) Full text – word search
(2) Table of contents
(3) Subject index
C. Name of Act – use Popular Name Table
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
B. Select the jurisdictions to search.
(1) Select a state‟s code by clicking on the state or search the United States Code
by clicking on the USCA.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
D. Sample word search in Ohio Revised Code
(1) Click Ohio Select “Search All Content” Enter dog bite in the search term
box Open § 955.28
(2) Search Results page
(a) Related Documents (on the right) – secondary sources and legal filings
(b) Filters are on the left –
i. Narrow Search – narrow your search by finding specific words in
the search results.
ii. Statute Title – shows you where your search terms are in the code,
Constitution, and court rules.
iii. Negative Treatment – you can quickly see if a code section has
negative treatment (example below, at bottom of image)
(c) Sort by (center, top of search results): relevance, most cited
IV. Viewing a Code Section – click the code title for 955.22. Scroll down through the code.
A. Currentness – tells you how up-to-date the entire code (e.g. U.S. Code) is online.
B. Credits – history of the statute (found just below the statute text)
(1) The oldest statute listed is the original version of the statute. For our code
section, it was originally found in section 5652-14(a) of the General Code.
(2) Amendments are listed with their effective dates.
C. Comparative laws – link to similar law in other states
D. Notes of Decisions – cases and Attorney General Decisions about the statute.
(1) Links to these Notes are located to the right of the statute, below the statute,
or on the tab at the top of the page.
(2) You may have to click on View All to display all the decisions.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
V. Validating a Statute (KeyCite) – Go back to the top of the statute and look at the tabs
A. History – covers Negative Treatment, Legislative History Notes, Bill Drafts (i.e.
proposed legislation), and Reports and Related Materials.
B. Citing References – sources that cite the statute. These may include cases, other
statutes, administrative decisions, secondary sources, briefs, and pleadings.
C. Context & Analysis – cross-references to related statutes & secondary sources
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
VIII. Uniform Laws Annotated – Select a specific uniform law to search or search all uniform laws.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
Westlaw – Reporters; Digests; Validating Cases
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
III. Searching by Subjects
(2) Click Cases in the lower content area; then click on the state
(a) Select “Search All Content” at the top right
(b) “Specify Content to Search” option allows you to choose only state
courts or only federal courts in the selected state.
(c) Feature: To see a list of the ten most recent cases decided by each
court, click on the link to the court.
(d) After selecting your court, enter your search in the top search box.
B. Sample Search
(1) Find Ohio cases about parent’s liability for negligent supervision of a child
(a) Plurals: plural forms are searched automatically, including possessives.
(b) Irregular plurals are not searched, so child and children must be searched
either with an OR (child or children) or with a root expander (child!)
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
IV. Viewing a Case – click on a case name to open it.
A. Information at top: citation, court, case name, date
B. PDF – digital image of case in paper. PDF will not print at free Westlaw printer.
C. Overview (under the date of the case)
D. Headnotes – legal points discussed in the case (Digest System)
(1) Change View – to display the headnotes two different ways.
(2) Headnote Number – jumps to portion of the opinion discussing the topic
(3) Topic/Key Number – gives all cases w/ topic/key # change jurisdiction
E. Star-paging – tracks the pages in the official and unofficial reporters
F. Related Topics (on the right) – Links to other sources
V. Navigation Features
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
Westlaw – Secondary Authorities
I. Sources Available
A. American Law Reports
B. Texts & Treatises
C. Law Journals
D. Restatements
E. Legal Encyclopedias
F. For the complete list, click on “Secondary Sources” on the main page.
II. Search Box – search all secondary sources using the search box on top.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
III. By Type, State, or Topic – navigate to specific content. Click title to search.
A. By Type
(1) American Law Reports (ALR)
(a) Search all ALR –
i. Search concealed weapon
ii. Narrow test
iii. KeyCite flags
iv. Open first annotation – parts:
Article Outline
Index (to article)
Table of Cases, Laws, and Rules – cited in the article
Article Content
Research References – to secondary sources
Related Topics (top right)
History tab (top)
Citing References tab (top)
(b) By Topic
(c) Tools & Resources: ALR Digest (on right)
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
(3) Encyclopedias – On Texts & Treatises page, click on an encyclopedia
(American Jurisprudence or Corpus Juris Secundum)
(a) Searching
i. Search the entire encyclopedia by using the top search box.
ii. Specify Content to Search – Click Specify Content to Search, then
combine topics by selecting them.
(b) On Texts and Treatises page –
i. By Topic – for topic-specific texts and treatises
ii. By State – for state-specific encyclopedia (e.g. Ohio
Jurisprudence), texts, and treatises
B. By State – Return to the main Secondary Sources page and click a state for a list of
state-specific secondary authorities.
(1) Search all the state‟s secondary sources by entering the search words in the
search box at the top of the page.
(2) Search each source separately by clicking on its title.
C. By Topic – Return to the main Secondary Sources page and click a topic for a list of
topic-specific secondary authorities.
(1) Search all the topic sources by entering the search words in the search box at
the top of the page.
(2) Search each source separately by clicking on its title.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
IV. Secondary Sources Index – locate a source by title. Return to the main Secondary Sources
page and click on Secondary Sources Index on the right side.
Find the title of a secondary source by using the alphabetical links or search in the top
search box.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
LexisNexis Statutes
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
B. Search using Terms and Connectors or Natural Language
C. Select Full Text (of statute) search or Table of Contents search.
A. “Book Browse” – moves forward and back through the code using the arrows
B. “More Like This” and “More Like Selected Text” – to search for related statutes.
Below is a sample. You can uncheck some core terms and add some terms.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
V. Other USCS Tools
A. Return to the Main Menu. Under “Federal Legal – U.S.,” click View More Sources
B. At the next screen, click United States Code Service Materials under the “Find
Statutes, Regulations…” heading.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
LexisNexis – Reporters; Digests; Validating Cases
I. Research Path – Four ways to search for cases:
A. Citation
B. Parties‟ Names
C. Subject
D. Headnotes
When entering citations, you do not need to capitalize or punctuate (i.e. 952 f supp 1119
is the same as 952 F. Supp. 1119).
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
III. Searching by Parties’ Names – Two Ways
A. Click Get a Document tab on main search screen click by Party Name option
Select your jurisdiction & date (if known).
(3) If the case is cited a lot, you will also get other citing cases.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
IV. Searching by Subject – Terms and Connectors or Natural Language
To return to the main search screen: click the red Search tab click the red by Source tab
click the Legal tab.
C. Next, choose search terms, connectors, etc. (Search Connectors at bottom of page)
(1) Example: Search Ohio state cases about the hostile possession element for
Adverse Possession.
(2) Search terms: adverse possession
hostile (possession)
(3) Connectors:
(a) Adverse possession /p hostile (results = 174 cases)
(b) Adverse possession /s hostile (results= 141 cases)
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
V. Viewing a Case – open 487 F.3d 985
A. Information at top: citation, court, case name, date
B. Subsequent/Prior History: Other proceedings of the same case
C. Case Summary: Procedure; Overview; Outcome
D. Core Search Terms
E. Headnotes: legal points discussed in the case (like WL Digest System)
F. More Like This Headnote (or ALL icon) – to find more cases on this point
(1) Select court/jurisdiction
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
I. Related Content (on the left)
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
LexisNexis – Secondary Authorities
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
II. American Law Reports (ALR)
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
C. Top of the screen
(1) Save as Alert – LN will e-mail you when changes are made to the annotation
(2) More Like This – to find sources covering a similar topic
(3) More Like Selected Text – to find sources covering the highlighted text
(4) Copy w/ Cite – to copy-&-paste highlighted text with citation into a document
(5) Edit Search – use to revise your search terms
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
B. Click Law Reviews & Journals (on the right). This offers other options:
(1) Law Reviews by Jurisdiction – combined by state
(2) Law Reviews by Area of Law – combined by topic
(3) Individual Law Reviews & Journals – displays an alphabetical list of all journals
in LexisNexis. Search in individual law reviews or in several at the same time.
(4) A fast way to see if a title is on LexisNexis is to use the gray Find a Source tab.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen
IV. Encyclopedias – return to the Secondary Legal screen
A. Select Database – can search separately or combined. Jurisprudences, ALR, &
Encyclopedias (on the right) has encyclopedias listed as separate databases.
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© 2010 The University of Akron School of Law, Lynn Lenart & Richard Cohen