Lawskool Research Guide
|
Law Student's Research Guide Contents INTERNET RESEARCHThe advent of the internet has made the task of legal research far less time consuming for stressed-out students and practitioners than it once was. Wading through dusty tomes in the law library is no longer mandatory. The modern law student will find a plethora of internet databases at his or her disposal to assist you with in-depth researching. Some of these databases can be quite involved so its worthwhile spending time to master their intricacies. The best way to approach an internet-focused
research task is to make ample use of boolean
connectors. These are words that you insert into your search
terms to narrow down your search. Experiment with the following:
The following specialist research texts are also
helpful: Happy Researching!
N.B When citing High Court judgements in your essays, always use paragraph numbers in square brackets, not page numbers e.g Hollis v Vabu Pty Limited [2001] HCA 44 at [42].
Austlii
(raw, unreported versions of Cth, State and Territory decisions
- ideal for essay work!) SCALEPlus (Cth,State and Territory court and tribunal decisions)
Case
Base (access through Butterworths Online)
Australian
Current Law (accessed through Butterworths
Online- updates Halsbury's laws of Australia) Many cases of no real legal significance, such as decisions of the Immigration Review Tribunal, are not officially reported in a law report series. You can use Butterworth's Online to track them down. Unreported judgements are listed in coded form e.g B(200202614).
Austlii - a solid gold web site! Australian Current Law (access through Butterworths online) Australian Legal Monthly Digest (oldskool print or online- you'll need to get access to the online version through your law library) Commonwealth Statutes Annotations (oldskool print service in your law library) Federal Statutes Annotations (oldskool print service in your law library) Legends CD-Rom (Immigation legislation) Timebase
(legislation for States and Territories - subscription service) To find amendments to legislation Federal
Statutes Annotations (access through Butterworths Online) To find how judges have given meaning to specific words in a statute Check out 'Words and Phrases Judicially Defined' (3rd Edition, Butterworths). You'll find it in the reference section of your law library.
You'll write countless essays during your law degree and your bibiliograpy will always be full of journal references. You can't go wrong with the following databases: AGIS (Attorney General's Information Service) - all good law libraries should have on-line access to this baby. Always the best place to start for law essay research. APAIS (Australian Public Affairs Service) - contains journals for the social sciences and humanities. You will find the following either online or in the reference section of your library: Butterworths Concise Australian Legal Dictionary Halsbury's Law of Australia (print and CDROM and Butterworths Online) The Laws of Australia (print and CDROM) Straud's Legal Dictionary Words and Phrases Legally Defined (3rd Edition, London, Butterworths) Go to Australian
Current Law in Butterworths Online
LAW SOCIETIES AND BAR ASSOCIATIONS ACT NSW NT SA TAS VIC WA
Aussie
Legal Forensic
Psychology and Psychiatry Links
Questia
(the world's largets online library)
Happy Researching!
|