EDLD6590: Legal Issues in Higher Education Guide
Overview
These resources should be most useful to you in researching court cases. This guide also includes sources which provide analysis of laws and cases in the area of higher education.
Many of these sources include full text. When full text is not available journals and books may be available in print in one of the WMU Libraries. Interlibrary Loan may be used for any other materials.
Law Dictionaries
Use a Law Dictionary to help you define terms.
Oxford Reference Online Contains over 200 dictionaries, encyclopedias, language reference and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. In addition to text, some of these sources include maps, illustrations, and carefully selected weblinks. Users can search one resource, a group of selected resources, or all of them at once. Sources are regularly updated. This subscription is limited to five simultaneous users. Please logout when finished. Select "Law" under the list of subjects to search "The Oxford Companion to American Law," "The Oxford Dictionary of Law," and "The Oxford Guide to U.S. Supreme Court Decisions."
Indexes and Databases
LexisNexis Academic Indexes thousands of domestic and foreign newspapers, as well as journals, and other publications in News, Business company reports and articles, Legal Research, Medical and Reference. The legal research category includes law reviews, law news, federal and state laws and cases. Mostly full text. Includes Hoover's full text. Coverage dates vary. For information about laws and individual cases select "Legal Research."
Westlaw Campus Research An extensive research database of legal sources, including the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, United States Code Annotated (USCA), Federal and State court cases, American Law Reports (ALR), and American Jurisprudence 2d, Black's Law Dictionary, Legal Guides, and more. Also includes more than 700 law reviews and journals.
ERIC
The Educational Resources Information Center indexes and abstracts over 2,000 journals and more than 450,000 reports in education and related fields. Some documents are available full text, the rest are on microfiche in the Education Library. Covers 1966-present. Updated monthly.
This is the FirstSearch version, also available from CSA and from the US government. Tutorial The most comprehensive index in the field of Education. However, the producer of this database has not kept it as current as "Education Abstracts."
Education Abstracts Indexes more than 700 English-language periodicals in education. Coverage: 1983 to the present, abstracts from 1994. Updated weekly.
Index to Legal Periodicals and Books Indexes articles in over 900 law journals and other publications, including yearbooks and government publications, from the US and other English-speaking countries. Includes book reviews. Coverage: 1981-present. Updated monthly.
Print: KZ .I38x (Ref.) 1952-2000 Contains articles from legal journals and law reviews. Some articles are available full text.
WorldCat Comprehensive catalog of books and other materials in libraries around the world. Contains millions of records in hundreds of languages. Nonbook materials include (among other publication formats) the titles of journals and magazines, manuscripts, maps, electronic resources, websites, computer programs, music scores, films, slides, sound recordings, conference proceedings, and videotapes. Items located through WorldCat must be requested through Interlibrary Loan unless they are also listed in the WMU Libraries catalog. When subject searching consider adding one of the following terms to your search: "laws," "legal aspects," "litigation," "court cases," legislation," etc.
Journals
Chronicle of Higher Education Articles in this publication are indexed in databases such as ERIC and Education Abstracts. Coverage September 1989-date.
HeinOnline: The Modern Link to Legal History HeinOnline consists of major full text legal collections including: the Law Journal Library, the Federal Register Library, the Treaties and Agreements Library, U.S. Code, and the U.S. Supreme Court Library. These collections are image-based and fully-searchable, with comprehensive coverage of each title, some going back to the 18th century. Click on "Subscribers please click here to enter." Provides historical coverage of law journals.
Writing Style Guides
APA Style Guides (American Psychological Association ) APA Formatting and Style Guide (Purdue)
APA Style (Guide for Citing Sources from Ohio State)
Electronic References - APA Style. Answers most questions on citing books and articles. For legal citation questions see the Cornell site in the next section of this Guide.
Web Resources
FindLaw An extensive source for case law (state and federal), administrative law, constitutional law, consumer law, directories, legal news, and other law related references. Useful for legal professionals, students, the general public, and corporate counsels.
Legal Information Institute [Cornell University Law School] An extensive site that provides information on Constitutions and codes, court opinions, law by source of jurisdiction, and a topical section ("Law About ...") that covers areas such as commerical transactions, intellectual property, the legal practice, international law, and other focused legal areas. Includes excellent section on "Basic Legal Citation" by Peter W. Martin.
Michigan Compiled Laws
1979. (M.C.L. or Mich.Comp.Laws)
KFM 4230 1979 .A23 (Ref)
Kept up to date by Public and Local Acts of the Legislature of the State of Michigan. The codification of Michigan statutory law.
Guides to Legal Research
Legal research: how to find and understand the law
Excellent background material on a variety of aspects of legal research. This is an electronic book available in full text.
Details
Ask A Librarian
Michele D. Behr
michele.behr@wmich.edu
269-387-5611
Last updated: May 2009