Paper Topic Selection and Development Guide: Locating Legal Articles & Papers through Full Text Databases

HeinOnline's Law Journal Library contains 1,700+ law and law-related periodicals.  Two advantages of using HeinOnline to find law review/journal articles are:

• The scope of coverage is generally more extensive than in Westlaw Edge and Lexis+.  Coverage is from the first issue published and runs through the most-currently published issues allowed based on contracts with publishers.  Depending on the journal, there may be a 1-3 year lag between the most current issue and the issue available in HeinOnline.
• Original issues are scanned into the database and available in PDF.

To search the database, use the Advanced Search Screen. 

• Tip: If you know an article's citation, type the citation into the Citation Navigator. 
• Tip: Obtain article > click: Cite > note availability of: Bluebook 21st ed. cite format.

Lexis+ Law Reviews and Journals database contains articles from law journals and CLE programs.  Coverage varies by publication, but generally begins in the 1980s and runs through the most current issue.  

Oxford University Press Legal Journals & Yearbooks (subscription) are available through platform: Oxford Academic.

• Links to digital versions of many legal journals and three legal yearbooks published by Oxford University Press (OUP).
• Most of these OUP sources also provide "Advance articles."  (BLS researchers might need to click: More Content > Advance Articles.)
• Includes option to view articles in PDF.

Westlaw Edge, Law Reviews and Journals

Westlaw Edge's Law Reviews and Journals database contains articles and CLE materials from U.S. and Canadian based legal journals.  Coverage varies by publication, but generally begins in the 1980s and runs through the most current issue.  

bepress is a network of law-related research materials. High quality working papers are contributed from law schools, research units, think tanks, conferences and other subject-appropriate groups.

• Tip: Browse by subject or institution.

Click: a sub-discipline (e.g., Criminal Law, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law, Human Rights Law, Intellectual Property Law) > enter keywords in search box on top right of resulting page.

Focus: Articles and scholarly working papers regarding accounting, economics, finance, law, management, marketing, and negotiation.  Includes preprints of many articles and some book chapters.

• Tip:  You do not need to register to access the full text of articles.
• Tip:  Search database by keyword, title, abstract or authors.
• Tip:  Browse by network and subject area.