Basic Legal Research

Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook with Study Center on Casebook Connect, including lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities. Access also includes practice questions, an outline tool, and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes.

This best-selling coursebook on legal research is known for its clear, step-by-step instruction in the basics. Using a building-block approach, Basic Legal Research: Tools and Strategies, Eighth Edition breaks material into discrete, readily comprehensible parts. Ideal as a course book or reference, this text emphasizes online research, with targeted coverage of print materials. Its comprehensive coverage and self-contained chapters offer flexibility to fit a variety of course structures. Useful pedagogy throughout the text includes end-of-chapter checklists, clear examples, and summary charts. Helpful sample pages and examples of research sources guide students through the presentation, and an accompanying workbook provides exercises to test comprehension and to apply legal research tools and strategies.

New to the Eighth Edition:

• Completely revised material throughout, providing thorough instruction in the latest features and functions of the main research platforms.
• Updated coverage includes Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law.
• Instruction now fully oriented toward online research:
  • Early chapters address online search strategies and use sample searches to illustrate how to draft a word search.
  • Chapters on individual sources focus primarily on online search techniques while still incorporating targeted descriptions of print sources.
• Citation explanations cover both the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation (7th ed.) and the Bluebook (21st ed.).
• New material on citation literacy explains how citation formats communicate weight of authority.

Professors and student will benefit from:

• Clear, step-by-step instruction covering the basics of legal research
• A building-block approach that breaks the material into discrete and comprehensible parts
• Self-contained chapters on research sources that make the book adaptable to any type of legal research course
• End-of-chapter checklists, numerous examples, and summary charts that aid in understanding, retention, and review
• Updated sample pages, screen shots, and references to research sources