Researching and Writing Substantial Papers
This guide is intended to provide students writing substantial papers with information about relevant resources available through the D'Angelo Law Library and the other libraries of the University of Chicago. If you need further assistance, do not hesitate to contact a reference librarian with any questions or to schedule a research consultation.
Picking a Topic
In addition to working with your professor, you may also want to consult some of the following current awareness sources to generate ideas for paper topics.
- BNA Topical Law Databases - BNA is a major publisher of U.S. legal materials, including topical newsletters that summarize recent case law and other developments in areas such as environmental law, intellectual property law, and employment law. BNA also publishes United States Law Week, which reports on the activities of the Supreme Court, those lower court decisions expected have a broad and significant impact on the law, and other noteworthy legal news items. The "Circuit Splits" feature might be especially helpful.
- Legal news periodicals - check the Library's Legal News page or various newsletters available in Westlaw and LexisNexis:
- LexisNexis: Legal > Legal News
- Westlaw: All Databases > Law Reviews, Bar Journals & Legal Periodicals > Legal Newspaper Databases
- Westlaw's Topical Highlights databases (e.g., WTH-SEC for securities law topics; WTH-TAX for tax law topics)
- Major newspapers (e.g. New York Times, Washington Post, etc.) - use ProQuest Newsstand to find full-text articles from most major newspapers
- Web sites of government agencies (state and local, federal, or international)
- Web sites of non-profit organizations and associations
- Blogs in your area of the law (e.g. Split Circuits, a blog that tracks circuit splits)
- American Constitution Society ResearchLink - collects legal research topics submitted by practitioners for law students to explore in faculty-supervised writing projects for academic credit
- Preemption Check Checklist - Once you select a topic, make sure to determine if anyone else has already published an article with the same thesis as yours.
- Heather Meeker, "Selecting the Golden Topic: A Guide to Locating and Selecting Topics for Legal Research Papers," 1996 Utah L. Rev. 917 (1996).
Finding Books
- Library Catalog - Search for books by title, author, or subject heading.
- Lens - Use the Library's new search engine to locate books on your topic.
- WorldCat - If the Library does not have a book you need, check Worldcat to search other libraries' catalogs.
- ILLiad - Log in with your CNetID to request a book from another library.
Finding Articles
For more information about finding journal articles, consult the Library's Electronic Resources page. To locate full-text of journal articles, use the E-journals list, Lens or Find-It! buttons to determine which Library databases contain full-text of a journal.
Finding Databases
For information on the Library's legal research resources, use the Law Databases page and the D'Angelo Law Library Research Guides page to find guides by jurisdiction, topic and on foreign and international law. For non-law topics, use Database Finder and browse by subject to find relevant databases. Use the University Library Research Guides by Subject pages to find resources in particular disciplines or subject areas. Use the Cornell University Law Library Legal Research Engine to search the web for research guides in a wide range of topics.
Finding Legal Writing Resources
Academic legal writing differs in some important respects from the writing a legal practitioner produces, such as memoranda, briefs, contracts, etc. Practitioners will often reuse phrases whose meanings have been interpreted and tested by courts, because the goal of the document is to create enforceable obligations that are clearly understood between the parties. Therefore, attribution of one's words to a particular source is neither expected nor required. By contrast, academic legal writing resembles academic writing in other disciplines more than it does legal practitioner writing. Originality of analysis and ideas is valued and, when one refers to the ideas of another, citation to the source is mandatory. Academic legal writing is heavily footnoted, allowing the reader to identify precisely the underlying source of any assertion that is not the writer's own idea or argument. For further information about these issues, see the Library's Academic Honesty page and the Lipson and Posner books listed below.
- Enquist, Anne and Oates, Laurel. Just Writing: Grammar, Punctuation and Style for the Legal Writer, 2nd ed. 2005
XXKF250.E57 2005, D'Angelo Law Library, Bookstacks and Reserve Room
- Fajans, Elizabeth. Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, and Law Review Competition Papers, 3rd ed 2005
XXKF250.F352 2005, D'Angelo Law Library, Reserve Room and Bookstacks
- Lipson, Charles. Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success
PN171.F56 L56 2004, D'Angelo Law Library, Reserve Room
- Posner, Richard A. The Little Book of Plagiarism
XXKF1485 P67 2007, D'Angelo Law Library, Bookstacks
- Volokh, Eugene. Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, and Seminar Papers. Foundation Press, 3rd ed. 2007
XXKF250.V65 2007, D'Angelo Law Library, Reserve Room
- Williams, Joseph M. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, Paperback ed. 1995
PE1421.W5462 1995, D'Angelo Law Library, Reserve Room
Finding Citation Resources
Citation management software can be used to organize and store citations to references used in your research. The Library makes Refworks software available to all University of Chicago students. Although it does not support legal citation style outputs, Refworks can be used to store and manage citations.
- The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 18th ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Assoc., 2005).
XXKF245.B59, D'Angelo Law Library, Reference and Reserves
- Martin, Peter W. Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, 2007 edition (based on The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation)
- The University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation ("the Maroonbook") (Rochester, N.Y.: Lawyers Co-operative Pub. Co,1989).
XXKF245.U55 1989, D'Angelo Law Library, Reference and Reserves
- Lipson, Charles. Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).
PN171.F56 L56 2004, D'Angelo Law Library, Reserves
- Posner, Richard. The Little Book of Plagiarism, 1st ed 2007
XXK1485.P67 2007, D'Angelo Law Library, Bookstacks
- Prince, Mary Miles. Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations, 5th ed. 2001.
XXKF246.B462 2001, D'Angelo Law Library, Reference
- Price, Mary Miles. Bieber's Dictionary of Legal Citations, 5th ed. 1997.
XXKF246.P73 1997, D'Angelo Law Library, Reference
- Cardiff's Index to Legal Abbreviations
