Impeccable Research, A Concise Guide to Mastering Legal Research Skills by 
In some ways, research for an academic law paper is similar to researching a paper for an undergraduate class or graduate level class in another discipline. Finding a topic involves searching news and current awareness sources -- something you may be familiar with.
It is good idea to search law review articles (scholarly legal articles) early on to see what others have written on the topic. This is often the first step after determining your topic. You probably have experience searching for scholarly articles on Google Scholar and/or in library databases. You might not be familiar with searching such articles on Lexis, Westlaw or Bloomberg Law. These databases offer natural language and template searches, just like the library databases you may be familiar with. But, they also have more precise and sophisticated terms and connectors searching.
Additionally, you might not be familiar with searching databases of case opinions, statutes and other primary law materials. Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg have citators which can be used to see if a case or statute is "still good law". The citators can also be used for further research. You can even use a citator to find subsequent law review articles that have cited to a law review article you like!
So, this page of the guide has videos and other resources for using Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law, as well as finding the primary sources you need and using citators.
Basic Legal Research:
Videos on the Web:
| Topic | General | Lexis | Westlaw |
| General/Intro | Intro to Legal Research Generally |
Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> |
Westlaw 101 - 17 minute video by our Westlaw rep, covering the basics of Westlaw |
| Search Terms | Selecting Search Terms for a Legal Research Question | Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> Click on Self Guided Modules. Select Start Your Research: Keyword Basics |
Westlaw On-Demand Learning - Essential Legal Research Certification - Identifying Key Search Terms |
| Terms and Connectors | Terms and Connectors Research | Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> Click on Self Guided Modules. Select Start Your Research: Terms and Connectors, Commands and Segment Searching |
Westlaw On-Demand Learning - Advanced Legal Research Certification - The Power of Terms and Connectors |
| Statutes | Introduction to Statutes | Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> Click on Self Guided Modules. Select Statutory Research Basics |
Westlaw On-Demand Learning - Essential Legal Research Certification - Getting Started with Statutory Research and Anatomy of a Statute |
| Case Opinions | Introduction to Researching Case Law | Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> Click on Self Guided Modules. Select Expand Your Research: Case Law Tools |
Westlaw On-Demand Learning - Essential Legal Research Certification - Getting Started with Case Law Research and Anatomy of a Case |
| Citators |
Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> |
Westlaw On-Demand Learning - Essential Legal Research Certification - What is a Citator? and Introduction to KeyCite and Is Your Case Actually Still Good Law? | |
| Secondary Sources | Introduction to Secondary Sources | Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> Click on Self Guided Modules. Select Start Your Research: Secondary Sources |
Westlaw On-Demand Learning - Essential Legal Research Certification - Getting Started with Secondary Sources |
|
Administrative Law - Regulations |
Lexis Learn: Click on Add Class> Self Guided Classes> Click on Self Guided Modules. Select Administrative Law Research |
Westlaw On-Demand Learning - Advanced Legal Research Certification - Getting Started with Regulations |