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Westlaw Campus Research
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Under Shortcuts, on lefthand side, choose Find - Find a document by title
Type plaintiff and defendant into search boxes

Have a Topic in Mind?

• Law of Professional and Amateur Sports for discussion and case citations
• West's Encyclopedia of American Law for an overview and key cases
• American Law Reports for analysis and case citations
• American Jurisprudence: THE encyclopedia of U.S. law.  Explains topics and cites important cases; available in print and in Westlaw 

The Sources

1. Law of Professional and Amateur Sports (Ref KF 3989 .L38)

• Updated regularly
• Limited to sports law
• Examines an issue in depth and ALWAYS cites relevant cases

2. American Law Reports (Ref  KF132 .A543 and in Westlaw Campus Research database)

• Analyses a legal issue---tears it apart
• Reprints a significant case in its entirety
• Summarizes other illustrative cases and gives citations for same
• With those cases in hand, go to Westlaw Campus Research and follow the directions for “Already Know a Case?”

3.  West’s Encyclopedia of American Law (Ref 154 .W47)

• Gives overview of topic, written for the ordinary Joe
• Outlines key aspects to consider
• Often cites key cases

4.  American Jurisprudence (Ref KF 154 .A42 and part of Westlaw Campus Research database)

• Gives comprehensive analysis of topic
• Provides legal framework
• Cites state and federal cases
• HUGE. 83 volumes in 2007
• Written for the legal world

5. Westlaw Campus Research and LexisNexis Academic (online databases)

For Cases

• Full-text of law cases from state and federal jurisdictions
• Goes WAY back—often to the beginning of jurisdiction.  For example: Oregon Supreme goes back to 1853; NC Supreme goes back to 1777
• Use these when you already know of a particular case
• Not so good for subject searching.

For Articles

• Law Reviews (law journals with articles that summarize, analyze, and cite key cases)
• LexisNexis Academic and Westlaw Campus Research have almost all of them AND
• They are all full-text
• Go further back in time than the ones available free on the Internet

Essential Tips for Searching Westlaw You type peanut butter; Westlaw turns that into "peanut OR butter" Use quotation marks to make peanut butter a phrase Use "!" to broaden your search (negligen! finds negligence or negligent) Specialized commands that improve relevance w/s finds words in the same sentence, improving relevance w/p finds words in the same paragraph, also improving relevance Essential Tips for Searching LexisNexis Peanut butter finds “peanut butter”, not “butter is healthier than a peanut” Combine terms with “and” and “or” E.g. Spectator! and (injur! or wound! or death) Use “!” to broaden your search (negligen! finds negligence or negligent) Specialized commands that improve relevance w/s finds words in the same sentence, improving relevance w/p finds words in the same paragraph, also improving relevance