Starting Research: Law
Basic resources for starting research in Law.
Databases and Indexes
Academic Search Premiere (dates vary): An extensive multi-disciplinary database providing full text for thousands of publications, including law journals.
American State Papers (1789-1838): Full-text database of U.S. Congressional materials.
U.S. Government Publications Office (GPO): (1976-present) Indexes all types of U.S. government documents, including judiciary materials and Congressional reports, hearings, debates, and records.
LexisNexis Academic (dates vary): Includes a wide range of news, legal, government, and reference information.
LexisNexis Congressional (dates vary): Includes the CIS Index—the most comprehensive index/abstract to Congressional publications—plus full-text information including bills, laws, regulations, House and Senate Reports, the National Journal, CongressDaily, voting records, and more.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (1975-present): Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, public policy, and public administration.
Library Catalogs
Grinnell College Libraries: Burling Library, Kistle Science Library and beyond.
WorldCat: A huge catalog of books, web resources, and other materials held in libraries around the world. Most items in WorldCat
are available through interlibrary loan.
Center for Research Libraries: Journals, foreign dissertations, newspapers, and microform collections available through interlibrary loan and electronic
delivery.
Reference Sources
Encyclopedia of the American Constitution: Burling Reference KF4548 .E53 2000 (6 vols.)
Encyclopedia of the American Judicial System: Studies of the Principal Institutions and Processes of Law, Burling Reference KF154 .E53 1987 (3 vols.)
Historic U.S. Court Cases: An Encyclopedia: Burling Reference KF385 .A4 J64 2001 (2 vols.)
Legal Systems of the World: A Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia, Burling Reference K48 .L44 2002 (4 vols.)
U.S. Laws, Acts and Treaties: Burling Reference KF285 .A4 U152 2003 (3 vols.)
West's Encyclopedia of American Law: Burling Reference KF154 .W47 2005 (10 vols.)
The World Court Reference Guide: Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders of the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Court of Justice (1922-2000), Burling Reference KZ200.5 .W67 2002
Search the library catalog for even more reference sources by limiting Location to Reference.
Selected Web Sites
Code of Federal Regulations (also available in print)
Code of Iowa (also available in print)
EISIL: Electronic Information System for International Law
The Law Library of Congress's Guide to Law Online
The Legal Information Institute, Cornell University (includes a searchable database of Supreme Court decisions)
THOMAS (Congressional information, including bills and resolutions)
U.S. Code (also available in print)
Style and Citation Guides
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation, from the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University
List of style guides and information on citing sources from Grinnell College Libraries
RefWorks A web-based service that allows you to import citations, create bibliographies, and more. Sign up for an individual account and get started right away, or ask a librarian to show you how RefWorks works.
Resources at Grinnell
Department of Economics
Department of Political Science
Related Research Guides
Starting Research: Economics
Starting Research: Political Science
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