EDAD 5376 Research Guide: Case Law

These databases contain court cases, but they also have law reviews, newspaper articles, broadcast transcripts, and other things relevant to legal researchers. If you're looking for the text of court cases, follow the instruction below each link.

Using LexisNexis to find article is easy! When you get to LexisNexis (be following the link on the left of this page), click on the LEGAL tab at the top of the screen, then click FEDERAL & STATE CASES link on the left side of the screen. See the screenshot below for visual instructions.

Click to enlarge.

Next, take decide how to conduct your search. What kind of information do you have? This will guide which search boxes you use to do your searching.

• "I have no information!"
  Don't have anything? That's fine. Use the big box at the top of the search area to do your search. You can type in things like "prayer AND texas" to find cases that have both the word "prayer" and "texas" in them.
  
  
• "I only have the party names!"
  Fill in the "Case Name" with the names of the parties.
  
  
• "I have the complete citation."
  Even better! With a complete citation, you can type it in to the "Citation Number" box and get straight to your case!

Westlaw's Campus Research database is a powerful tool for law researchers. In addition to finding the court cases you're looking for, Campus Research will show you visually the path the case has taken through lower and higher courts! To get started, click on the LAW tab at the top of the screen (shown in the screenshot below).

Click to enlarge

Next, take decide how to conduct your search.  What kind of information do you have?  This will guide which search boxes you use to do your searching.

• "I have no information!"
  Don't have anything?  That's fine.  Use the search boxes on the right half of the screen to search for words like "prayer" and "texas" to find cases pertaining to those topics.
  
  
• "I only have the party names!"
  Fill in the "Find a Document by Title" section on the left side of the screen in the Find box.
  
  
• "I have the complete citation."
  Even better!  With a complete citation, you can type it in to the "Find a Document by Citation" section on the left side of the screen in the Find box.