The following is support material related to a library instruction session conducted by a library instructor and a BHCC Business Department course instructor.
Workshop objectives: After attending the library workshop students will be better able to:
- Make a tentative plan before “plunging into” the complexities of legal database searching
- Follow a process when learning how to use electronic databases
- Understand the strengths and weaknesses of legal databases compared to print legal sources
- Understand the major search functions offered by information databases
- Find cases and statutes in LexisNexis (via sample searches done in class)
- Use LexisNexis Help Screens to learn how to execute more complex searches
Effective use of legal databases depends on competent “general legal research skills.” These “general legal research skills” have been discussed in your class, as well as in the first library session on February 7, 2007. In the first library session we left out legal databases, and focused only on print resources, in the hope that your development of “general legal research skills” would be easier. Now, having learned “general legal research skills” in the print environment, you should be better prepared to learn how to use legal databases effectively.
Here are the two major “take home messages” regarding effective use of legal databases:
- You must have competent “general legal research skills” to use legal databases effectively. Knowing how to perform complex searches in a legal database will NOT help you if you don’t understand the difference between primary and secondary sources in the law, as well as many other details that fall under “general legal research skills”
- Effective legal researchers follow a PROCESS when learning how to use legal databases. Legal database search screens and search protocols can change overnight. It is best to be prepared for this at the beginning, and develop a process so you can learn (and then re-learn) how to use legal databases yourself. This handout and session will discuss the major elements of a process to learn how to use legal databases, which you can build on when developing your own individual process.
PROCESS TIP: MAKE A PLAN BEFORE “PLUNGING INTO” A LEGAL DATABASE
Going into a legal database can be like “falling into the sea,” but in this case it is the “SEA OF INFORMATION!” To avoid, drowning in this sea, have a tentative plan, which answers questions like:
1) Why do I want to go into a legal database as opposed to a print legal resource? (The answer to this question can be as simple as “The legal source I want to check is only in a database, and not in print.”)
2) Do I have a specific legal fact I am trying to find, or am I just looking for background information?
3) What kinds of documents am I looking for? Legal Commentary? Cases? Statutes? Regulations? Are the documents I need actually in the database I’m thinking about using? Can I limit my searches to only certain kinds of documents, so I don’t have to “wade through” a lot of irrelevant material? (Gaining familiarity with the database and doing a few test searches will help you answer this question, provided that you will not be charged for the test searches.)
4) What kinds of database searches do I intend to do? By keyword? By subject? By legal citation? By West Key Number? Will I try to restrict my searches to only full-text documents, to documents published in the last few years, to documents issued by a certain court, agency, legislative body, or individual?
5) Do I intend to search the full-text of documents, or parts of a document (such as headnotes or abstracts), or only citations alone?
Every time you go into a legal database is a learning experience. Having a tentative plan will aid your learning about the database. The more plans you construct, and the more you learn about how to use legal databases, the better your plans will become.
PROCESS TIP: BE AWARE OF THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF LEGAL DATABASES AS OPPOSED TO PRINT SOURCES:
Basic question to consider: Why use a legal database over a print source? Likewise, why would one go to a print resource instead of a database? Here are some of the major reasons:
STRENGTHS OF LEGAL DATABASES OVER PRINT SOURCES:
1. SEARCH POWER:
A. You can search legal databases in ways that you can’t do in print sources!
B. You can search large numbers of legal documents very quickly.
2. FASTER UPDATING: The database content is usually updated much faster than in print sources.
3. RESOURCE ACCESS: You may only have access to certain legal sources in a database
STRENGTHS OF PRINT SOURCES OVER LEGAL DATABASES:
1. CAN BE LESS CONFUSING: If you have multiple windows open on a computer, containing the search results for multiple searches, it is easy to get confused. Preliminary research may be less confusing if you do it in print resources.
2. CAN BE MORE COST EFFECTIVE: Databases are expensive. What is good about print resources is that you cannot be charged “per use” when you consult a print resource.
3. YOU MAY ONLY HAVE ACCESS TO CERTAIN RESOURCES IN PRINT: Some resources you may only have in print, and not electronically
PROCESS TIP: TRY TO BE AWARE OF ALL THE DATABASES YOU HAVE AT YOUR DISPOSAL
If multiple databases contain primary legal sources, have a reason for selecting one over the other (cheaper cost, ease of use, etc.)
If you’re looking for a secondary source in a database to get a broad overview of a topic, consider searching a more general database before “jumping into” a legal one. You may also find a good secondary source in a database not known as a “legal database”.
Check a listing of every legal periodical we get full-text (both in print and electronically) at http://ph8vq3lq6p.search.serialssolutions.com/. By selecting "Law, Politics & Government" in the "Browse e-journals by subject" section and then selecting one of the subdivisions under Law section, an alphabetical listing of all legal journals we get, and the database that contains the legal journal, will be pulled up.
PROCESS TIP: BE AWARE OF THE MAJOR WAYS TO SEARCH DATABASES, THEIR MAJOR FUNCTIONS, AND HOW THEY CHARGE
Here are the major ways to search databases:
- Text (or keyword) searches (Generally allowed in all databases, but user must come up with all the terms that describe concept.)
- Subject searches (could use WEST KEY NUMBER SYSTEM phrases or another assigned by the database, but user may not agree with the assigned subject(s).)
- Citation searches (really a kind a text search, but worth mentioning separately.)
Here are some of the more sophisticated search techniques:
- Boolean searches - Connect search terms using AND, OR, and NOT. (Example: “alcohol OR depressant”)
- Proximity searches - Find words within 1 or 2 words of another word. (Example: “drunk w/5 driving” to find driving within 5 words of drunk.)
- Wild card searches - (Example: “constitution* ” actually searches for constitutionality, constitutional, etc.)
IMPORTANT TIP: The exact way to enter these kinds of searches (as well as others) varies from database to database!
IMPORTANT TIP: If you’re reading legal documents that also appear in a print source, if can be helpful to compare the electronic version to the print version. This is particularly helpful for electronic versions of legal cases!
IMPORTANT TIP: In legal research you sometimes want to find how later legal cases treat an earlier case on the same issue. Before computers, one had to do this either by looking up cases that were assigned the same West Key Number, or by using titles in the Shepards series (often called “Shepardizing”® the case, which tends to be more convenient.) With the advent of full-text searching of legal cases, one can find cases that cite an earlier case much more easily, but it is still up to the user to actually read the cases and see if they’re relevant to your legal issue.
IMPORTANT TIP: Many database search tips are available on the web, either on the vendor’s own website or at websites of libraries.
Here are additional function often offered by databases:
- Help Screens – If you’re having problems using the database, try reading the Help Screens! Better
yet, take 20 minutes to review them before you search. (This may sound elementary, but learning to use a sophisticated search technique may save you hours of searching time!)
- Live Assistance – Legal database vendors know their databases are complex. Some vendors offer
a phone number you can call for assistance. If you’re really stuck, calling the vendor may be the best way to go.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Librarians at BHCC Library are naturally also available to help you as well.
Here are the major ways to obtain the documents you need from the database:
- Print the document
- Email the document
- Cut and paste the document into a word processing program. (Helpful if you wish to give a lengthy quote from a primary source in a brief.)
Here are some of the major ways legal database vendors charge for use: (In legal research, cost is a major consideration. If you are working in a law firm, you must find the information in a database in the most cost-effective way possible.)
CHARGES FOR SEARCHING/GENERAL USE:
- By “flat rate” (For example, $5000 a month for unlimited use during the month.)
- By the amount time you’re logged into the database
- By the database (or file) you search in (In general, databases containing more documents are more
expensive to search.)
- By searches of document citations only
- By search of the full-text documents or parts of the full-text document (more expensive)
- By “transaction” (the database should define what a “transaction” is in its documentation.)
CHARGES FOR VIEWING/DOWNLOADING:
- Viewing citations only
- Viewing full-text documents (more expensive). The cost for viewing full-text document is
sometimes further subdivided by:
- Charge per document
- Charge per line of text in the document (10-20 cents per line is a sample cost)
- Charge per “page” in each document (Find out how the database defines “document page.” With legal cases, this definition is more agreed upon, because pages are often defined by both the West reporter as well as the official reporter.)
IMPORTANT: Know the default charge settings for the database, and change them if you are not satisfied with them! Also be aware that the above charges will be combined. (For example, you could search the full-text of documents but decide only to view the citations to these documents, so you can decide which documents you want full-text.)