Academic Research for Scholarly Legal Writing: Articles

Keyword vs Subject Searches

There are two primary types of searches you can do when you are researching a topic:

1. Keyword searching: Most of the searches you do online are keyword searches. You enter one or a few relevant terms in the search bar, and the search algorithm looks for articles that contain those terms in the title, abstract, text, or other locations, depending on the database.
2. Subject searching: Subjects are standardized topical terms that are assigned to articles by humans or AI. Searching for a subject returns only articles that have had that subject assigned to them.

Although keyword searching seems easiest at first, it has major disadvantages. When you search with keywords, it is important that you take into account all the possible synonyms of your terms. Depending on the search algorithm you are using, you may also have to use wildcards in order to include different forms of the same word root (for this and other search tips, see the Introduction to Academic Libraries). More importantly, keyword searches often return too many irrelevant results. In a full-text database, you will get every article that uses your term, even those that use the word once in passing.

Subject searches allow you to find articles that are about your topic and not just those that use a particular word. This page lists several resources for finding articles, and information on how to perform keyword and subject searches in each of them. You should use both search strategies to make sure you don't miss anything relevant.

Databases and Indexes

You are probably already familiar with article databases, which compile articles from many different journals, allow you to search through them, and often provide full-text access. Most of the searching you do in databases is keyword searching, although some do have some subject search capabilities.

Indexes are also compilations of journal articles, but they typically do not contain the full text of the articles. Instead, citations and abstracts to the articles are added to the index along with relevant subject terms. Since articles in an index are organized by subject from the outset, indexes are perfect for subject searches. While most also have keyword search capabilities, they probably only search through the article title, abstract, and subjects to find your keywords, rather than the full text.

Indexes are resources that allow you to search for articles about a specific subject. Articles are entered into the index by human indexers who select appropriate subjects for each one. Many indexes also allow you to search by author, court cases, statues, etc. Unlike full-text databases, indexes will not necessarily give you direct access to the articles you find. When you find a citation to an article that looks interesting, see the "Accessing articles" tab on this page for how to access the article using the library website.

Index to Legal Periodicals and Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective

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These include legal periodicals originating in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The Index to Legal Periodicals covers issues from 1981 to the present, while the Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective covers issues from 1908-1981. Both indexes can be searched following the same steps, outlined below.

• Keyword search: Enter your search terms in the search bar(s) at the top of the page. Select a field such as All Text, Subject, Court Case, etc. to narrow your search. You can add more terms in separate bars and select a Boolean operator (AND, OR, NOT) from the drop-down menu. See the EBSCO database help page  for more help with this search.
• Subject search: Select "Indexes" from the bar at the top of the page to browse through indexed subject terms. Select "Subject Terms" from the drop-down menu and enter a search term below it. For best results, keep this search simple (a single word if possible) and try different synonyms as necessary. Browse through the resulting subject terms (do not stop at just the first page) and check the box next to each one that seems relevant. Click the "add" button above the list to add them to your search (by default they are added with "or", but for a more restrictive search you can change this to "and" or "not" using the drop-down menu). Then click the large Search button. See the EBSCO indexes help page for more on subject browsing.

Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP)

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(1935 to Present) Provides subject indexing and listing of tables of contents for more than 500 law journals. CILP indexes new journal articles very quickly, so it is a good resource to check for the most current articles.

CILP publishes a new issue every Monday. Each issue is a list of recently published articles, grouped by broad subject categories. CILP only offers keyword searching. It looks for your keywords within the text of the CILP issues, meaning that it can only search the citation information of the articles themselves. For this reason, you may find that CILP is less useful for your initial research than other services like Index to Legal Periodicals or the HeinOnline Law Journal library.

Where CILP really shines is its current awareness service, SmartCILP. You can sign up to receive email alerts when articles about your chosen topic(s) are published. This is an effective way to make sure you do not miss relevant sources that are published while you are writing your own article.

• Keyword search: Type your keywords into the bar at the top of the page to search. You can use Advanced Search to specify a date range or for help combining search terms with Booleans (and, or, etc.). In the advanced search, you should always select Text from the drop-down menu next to each search term. Options like Article Title, Author, etc. will not work.
• Set up SmartCILP alerts: Select Create New SmartCILP User on the home screen. Enter your email address. You can then select as many topics or subjects as you would like.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

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(1985 to Present) Contains citations to articles in over 450 legal journals, as well as essay collections, festschriften, and US Congressional reports. Coverage includes comparative, municipal, and public and private international law of countries other than the US, the UK and the British Commonwealth.

HeinOnline Law Journal Library

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This database includes more than 2,900 law and law-related periodicals featuring subjects such as criminal justice, political science, technology, human rights, and more. HeinOnline is easy to use because many of the articles have full-text access. However, its subject search capabilities are limited.

Westlaw and Lexis

Westlaw and Lexis do not have as many law journals as other databases like HeinOnline, so these should not be your primary resources for finding articles. However, they may contain more recent articles than other databases, and they are useful for finding articles that discuss particular cases. Look up the important cases pertaining to your topic in both databases and view the citing sources. In Lexis+ you can select "Other Citing Sources" from the menu along the top of the document.

On Westlaw Edge you can select "Citing References" from the top menu and select "Secondary Sources" in the drop-down menu that appears.

Other Databases

Visit the Law Library's Law Databases guide for a list of all the legal databases that you can access through the library. See especially the topics listed in the box on the right to find databases that specialize in particular areas of the law.

If your research touches on subjects outside of law, do not limit yourself to legal research databases. Visit the Cornell University Research Guides page to find research guides on other subject areas; these will usually point out major databases for the field.

Finally, you can use SSRN to search for articles on your topic that may not have been published yet. Note that pre-publication drafts on SSRN may change by the time they are published in a journal.

As always, reach out to a reference librarian for help selecting and using databases.

As you visit databases looking for articles, you will encounter a variety of ways to access these articles. If you have trouble accessing the text directly from the database, follow the steps below to find the article on the library website.

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1. Search for the article

The easiest way to access an electronic version of an article is to search for the article title on the library home page. On the results page, select "Articles & Full Text" from the filters on the left. Alternately, you can search directly in the articles & full text search page. If your article has a simple or common title, you may need to add more information, such as an author.

Use links labeled "PDF Full Text" or "Get it! Cornell" to connect you to the article text. If these links do not work, or if you are not able to find your article this way, proceed to the next step.

2. Search for the journal

The next step is to search for the journal title in the library catalog. You can begin your search from the library home page or the catalog, and select "Journals/Periodicals" from the filters on the left. If you find the right journal (note that you may find multiple entries for the same journal--try all entries until one works for you), check the Availability box to see if you can access the journal electronically.

Electronic access

When you follow a link to view the journal online, you may be presented with different options. Look at the coverage dates to determine if a given platform has the volume (year) that you need.

When you follow one of these links, select the correct volume and issue to find your article, or use the search function if you find one.

Physical access

If you find the journal you need, but the library only has a print version, you can request a scan of your article. Select the button "Request scan of article/chapter" in the Availability box on the catalog page. Fill in the information about your article as accurately as possible. For more on using this feature, see the books page of this guide, under the tab "Books not available at Cornell". You can also use this request button to get scans of articles for which the library has the journal but does not have the volume you need. These requests will be processed as Interlibrary Loan requests.

3. Place an Interlibrary Loan request

Finally, if you cannot find your article or journal at the library at all, you can place an Interlibrary Loan request for a scan of the article. As with books, you can do this by selecting "Request from libraries worldwide" in your catalog search (see the books page for more detailed instructions). Contact law-ils@cornell.edu if you encounter difficulties placing an Interlibrary Loan request.