Researching a law school paper or law journal note? We can help!

  • by Refugio Acker-Ramirez

Learn about how the library can help you with your law school paper or journal note.

Legal scholarship & other legal sources

Many law school papers and student notes require research outside of Westlaw & Lexis. The law library subscribes to databases and has developed resources that may be useful in finding articles and other material on your research topic. Examples:

  • Legal scholarship: HeinOnline is the most comprehensive database for searching law and law-related journals, with over 3,000 journals compared to approximately 1,000 in Westlaw and Lexis.
  • Historical research: The law library subscribes to a number of historical legal databases. Contact a law librarian at lawlibref@ucdavis.edu for more information.
  • Foreign and International Law research: The law library's Foreign and International Law Research guide is a good starting point for locating foreign and public international law materials, including EU resources.

Multi-disciplinary databases

As a UC Davis student, you have access to a broad range of University scholarly and research databases. The law library's A-Z Database list includes links to the databases most commonly used by King Hall students and faculty for research. To access many of these databases remotely, you will need to install and activate the campus library VPN.

Need help identifying relevant databases? Consult a librarian at lawlibref@ucdavis.edu.

Resources for conducting your research

The law library has created a guide to walk you through the steps of researching a law school paper. Topics include:

  • Coming up with a topic
  • Checking for preemption
  • Expanding your research, including research strategy, keyword searching, suggested legal and non-legal databases, and finding books
  • Resources on academic legal writing

Make a research appointment

Reference librarians are available to help you get started, come up with search strategies, and identify relevant databases.