ENGL 392
Advanced Composition for Legal Writing

This web page is designed for use by the students in English 392. For additional assistance, ask a librarian at the McKeldin Library Information Desk, or contact Judy Markowitz (judym[@]umd.edu), or Bob Garber (rgarber[@]umd.edu), or Maggie Saponaro (msaponar[@]umd.edu).

Note: Remote (off-campus) access to the Libraries' electronic databases is available through Research Port using your UM Directory ID and password.

Contents:

• Steps in Legal Research
• Secondary Sources (Information and analysis about a topic)
• Primary Sources (The actual laws)
• Citing Legal Resources (examples included)
• Other Useful Guides

Steps in Legal Research

1. Find a topic.
   Often law schools have web sites that track "hot" or interesting current topics that may help you identify a topic like the University of Pittsburgh's Paper Chase.
2. Use secondary sources to get background on your issue.
   
   

   TIP: Begin right away to keep an organized list of citations or titles of cases, legislation or articles that you come across in your research and seem critical to your topic. This will be helpful to have later when you start reading cases or legislation.

   Legal research can become daunting if you begin by reading a few cases and following citations before establishing some understanding of the context and background of the legal issues involved. Check out the following secondary sources to get background information on your issue:

   • Legal Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
     These are good places to learn about key cases and legislation. You can find these by searching the Libraries' Catalog using words like handbook, encyclopedia, dictionary, or guide and limiting by location to "McKeldin Reference" on the Advanced Search screen. Or check out the following:
     • Black, Henry Campbell. Black's Law Dictionary 8th ed. St. Paul, MN: Thomson/West, 2004.
       The most widely used law dictionary, includes authoritative definitions and often provides citations to the court case that defined a particular word or term.
       LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks or in Westlaw Campus Research
       CALL NUMBER: KF156.B53 2004
     • West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Detroit: Thomson/Gale, 2005.
       Good encyclopedia for non-lawyers. Arranged alphabetically by issue with summaries of key legislation and decisions.
       LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
       CALL NUMBER: KF154.W47 2004 v. 1-13
     • West's Maryland Law Encyclopedia : Based on Maryland Statutes and Cases. St. Paul, MN: West Group, 1960-
       Articles on broad topics with many citations to Maryland cases and statutes.
       LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks or Maryland Room Reference
       CALL NUMBER: KFM1265.W4
     • American Jurisprudence 2d (AmJur 2d). St. Paul, MN: West Group, 1962- .
       Legal encyclopedia on state and federal law with comprehensive research references for each topic.
       LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks or in Westlaw Campus Research
       CALL NUMBER: KF385.A2
   • Books
     Legal treatises and other monographs that treat legal issues in depth can give excellent background and provide pointers to a lot of other scholarly resources. Use the Libraries' Catalog to find useful books, searching by "words anywhere" (e.g. Sentenc* AND (black or african american)). Some examples include:
     • Deschenaux, Joanne, T. and others, eds. Maryland Damages. Bernan's Case Summaries. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press, 1998.
       LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
       CALL NUMBER: KFM1395.A59M365 1998
     • Deschenaux, Joanne, T. and others, eds. Maryland Family Law. Bernan's Case Summaries. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press, 1998.
       LOCATION: Hornbake Maryland Room, Maryland Reference
       CALL NUMBER: KFM1761.A58M37 1998
     • Eng, Vincent A., and others, eds. Maryland Criminal Law. Bernan's Case Summaries. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press, 1998.
       LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
       CALL NUMBER: KFM1761.A59M37 1998
     • Jermyn, Pamela A., Steven Douglas Najarian, and James J. Patton, eds. Maryland Tort Law. Bernan's Case Summaries. Lanham, MD: Bernan Press, 1997.
       LOCATION: McKeldin Reference Stacks
       CALL NUMBER: KFM1395.A59M37 1997
   • Law Reviews
     These are the equivalent of scholarly, academic journals for the law. The articles are generally very long and research-intensive, and will provide many footnotes to follow up for additional research. Almost all recent law review articles are available full text in Westlaw Campus Research.
   • Other periodicals
     Beyond law reviews, there are other academic and non-academic publications that publish articles on legal issues, many of which can be more accessible than law reviews. Try some of the databases from the "General/Multidisciplinary", "News Sources/Current Events", or "Politics and Public Policy" subject categories in Research Port.

   TIP: To narrow your search, search by name of well-known legislation, or by the parties in a case.

3. Read the actual law.
   When you understand the topic area pretty well and have identified the key cases or other documents, you're ready to read the actual publications which make up the law. When reading cases or legislation, keep an eye out for Headnotes, footnotes, and annotations. These are explanatory materials that will help make sense of the legal wording and explain key concepts or cite other resources you may find helpful. These supplemental materials are usually not part of the law, with the exception of some footnotes.

• Global Legal Information Network
  "Public database of official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations" from the Library of Congress. Also see the Guide to Law Online: Nations for legal information on specific countries.
• LexisNexis Congressional
  Access federal legislative information including laws,, bills, regulations, and legislative histories.
• Westlaw Campus Research
  Includes statutory law, administrative law, and case law, plus secondary sources like Am Jur 2d and law reviews. Also includes Keycite, a feature that shows you cases that cite the case you are interested in, or which overturn, question, or follow the law in the case.
• Maryland Law Resources
  Includes Maryland statutory, case, and administrative law resources. We recommend using Westlaw for the most current versions of the Maryland Code and the Code of Maryland Agency Regulations (COMAR). You can find many of these resources in print in Hornbake Library's Maryland Room.
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/MDLawResources.html
• Maryland General Assembly
  Find information on current bills and hearings, as well as bills and other legislative information from prior sessions, back to 1996.
• Maryland County Codes (Maryland State Law Library)
  Includes links to selected county and municipal code websites.
  http://www.lawlib.state.md.us/researchtools/codescounty.html
• Maryland Municipal Codes
  Includes links to selected county and municipal code websites.
  http://www.lawlib.state.md.us/researchtools/codeslocal.html

4. Repeat!
   Cases and legislation that you will read might open up more questions or send you down slightly different paths to find more pertinent information. Consult those resources that you found helpful again, or search out citations to new cases or statutes you have found along the way.

Citing Legal Resources

• The Bluebook : a uniform system of citation, 18th ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Law Review Association, 2005.
  LOCATION: MCKREF Ready Reference
  CALL NUMBER: KF245.U55 2005
  This is the basic legal citation handbook. Includes great detail but also provides a short list of the basic rules. Also includes helpful tables of abbreviations.

• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (Cornell)
  Based on the 18th edition of the "Bluebook" and other legal citation sources.
  http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/
• Reading Legal Citations (Boston College Law Library)
  This provides a more concise guide to the basics of citing legal sources and deciphering citations.
  http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/library/meta- elements/pdf/researchguides/citations.pdf
• UM Libraries: Legal Citations - Finding Materials
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/legalcitations.html

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Other Useful Guides

• Citing Sources Using the MLA Handbook
  Check out this guide for help citing anything you're using besides legal resources (e.g. newspaper articles, books).
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/citing_mla.html
• Evaluating Web Sites
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/UES/evaluate.html
• Other Guides Related to Law
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/UES/library_guides2.html#law

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