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Criminal Justice 3720 - Legal Research  
Library Overview
Treatises
Databases
Web Sites
John Popadak ,  Criminal Justice Subject Librarian
Maag Library
330-941-3679

Overview

Maag Library provides access to books, articles, and legal resources for legal research in a variety of formats. The resources and tips on this page will help you locate the information you need. If you need additional assistance, Ask a Librarian for assistance or contact the liaison librarian listed above.
 
Library Overview

Maag Library is NOT a law library, but we do have a fairly comprehensive general law collection. The law materials are located in several areas (Reference, Serials, Government Documents, or the General Collection), so it may be helpful to refer to a series of Subject Guides designed to assist you in locating law resources at Maag Library. These guides are found in the Subject Guides section on Maag's home page. Select L for law, and proceed to the appropriate guide.

  • Law (General) is a good starting place. It identifies a number of secondary sources such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks.
  • Law (Statutes) explains the legislative process and where you can find proposed legislation as well as laws at the federal and state levels.
  • Law (Cases) deals with the major reporters of court cases that we have for the federal and state levels. It also gives pointers for locating cases relating to a legal topic.
  • Ohio Legal Resources Online
  • Tax and Law Abbreviations is a quick guide for identifying legal abbreviations and an outline of library locations for law titles.
The Maag Building Guide will help you quickly identify the floor you need.

 
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Treatises

Generally, the term treatise is applied to a multivolume work exploring a particular doctrinal area in exhaustive depth. Legal treatises seek to clarify legal doctrine by ordering the variety of rules and decisions into a coherent body of law.

(Note: this definition was taken from Kent C. Olson's Legal Information: How to Find It, How to Use It, Oryx Press, 1999, p. 60.)
An example of a treatise:

Baldwin's Ohio Tax Law and Rules. This 3-volume set is in the Reference Room. Call number: KFO 470 .A6 B322

Treatises in Maag Library are cataloged and can be found by searching MaagNet. We do have a number of titles in the University Casebook Series. To identify titles in this series, simply search for University Casebook Series as a title. Treatises are not shelved in any one particular area, but are shelved according to subject matter.

NOTE: Treatises on a variety of subjects are now available online through Lexis-Nexis.

The Mahoning County Law Library has a good selection of treatises. To get an idea of their collection, visit the Treatises link on the law library's web page.

 
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Databases

For a complete list of databases that may be helpful in researching a law topic, see OhioLINK Research Databases, Law and Legislation. The databases listed below are the most frequently used for finding law review articles, as well as legislative information and/or case information.
Criminal Justice Abstracts On Campus   Off Campus URL
Provides comprehensive coverage of the major journals in criminology and related disciplines, extensive coverage of books, and unparalleled access to reports from government and nongovernmental agencies. Some, but not all, of the materials indexed are full-text. Note: The SAGE FULL-TEXT CRIMINOLOGY COLLECTION is now available as part of this database.
Gongwer's News Service On Campus   Off Campus URL
Provides daily coverage of issues in and around Ohio's government and political systems. Gongwer's daily Ohio Report provides coverage of every bill in the General Assembly and closely tracks the activities of the executive and judicial branches. Gongwer provides a suite of products to monitor and track political and policy developments.
Legal Collection On Campus   Off Campus URL
A collection of respected, scholarly peer-reviewed publications including law journals, documents, and case studies. Legal Collection offers full text for nearly 250 of the world's most respected, scholarly law journals. This database provides information centered on the discipline of law and legal topics such as criminal justice, international law, federal law, organized crime, medical, labor & human resource law, ethics, the environment and much more. This database is a source for information on current issues, studies, thoughts and trends of the legal world.
LexisNexis Academic On Campus   Off Campus URL
Provides access to a wide range of news, business, legal, medical, and reference information from nearly 5,000 sources, most of them available in full text. The service covers newspapers, magazines, wire services, federal and state court opinions, federal and state statutes, federal regulations, and SEC filings. News information is updated daily and wire services several times daily. Research areas in LexisNexis Academic cover top news, general news topics, and news transcripts; foreign language news sources; company, industry, and market news; legal news; company financial information; general medical and health topics and medical abstracts; accounting, auditing, and tax information; law reviews; federal case law; U.S. Code; and state legal research. 
For assistance in finding a specific case, see Finding a Specific Case in LexisNexis.
 
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Web Sites

Legal sites are abundant.  Listed here are a few of the more well-known public sites.



Comprehensive Sites
Collections or Guides to Sites
Law & Legislation
  • GPO Access  (Federal Register 1994 - to date, U.S. Code, plus many other government databases)
  • Thomas Legislative Information  (Congressional bills, laws and reports)
  • CFR  (Code of Federal Regulations)
  • U.S. Code  (from Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School)

Supreme Court


Federal Courts

State Legal Resources
  • Gongwer's News Service  (Provides daily coverage of issues in and around Ohio's government and political systems. Gongwer's daily Ohio Report provides coverage of every bill in the General Assembly and closely tracks the activities of the executive and judicial branches. Gongwer provides a suite of products to monitor and track political and policy developments - LIMITED TO OHIOLINK USERS)
  • Supreme Court of Ohio
  • Ohio Online Documents  (The Ohio General Assembly has teamed with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services to provide this free public service. Includes searchable versions of Ohio Revised Code and Ohio Administrative Code)
  • Legislation (bills) introduced 126th General Assembly  (also 122nd-125th)
  • State and Local Governments  (Sponsored by the Library of Congress. A very comprehensive site including direct links to individual state sites as well as a list of meta-indexes for locating state and local government information)
  • National Center for State Courts (links to many state and local courts)

Schools & Associations, Miscellaneous
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Updated September 2008