Expanding the
Awesomeness of Your
Legal Research Abilities
with Secondary Resources
Can a Tweet be Libelous under
Illinois Law?
I don’t always do legal research …
But when I do, I start with the secondary
sources on the Law Library Home Page!
Secondary Sources – A Real Fine
Place to Start
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Law Library Homepage – Your gateway to
greatness!
SmartBooks – IICLE – Practitioner oriented
guides to Illinois legal issues, by subject.
LegalTrac – Online index to legal periodicals,
including law reviews and bar journals. Where
to get citations to articles.
HeinOnline – Premier PDF repository of legal
periodicals and other resources. Where to find
articles cited on LegalTrac.
Rockin’ in the Free World – Finding
Cases & Articles in No Cost Databases
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Google Scholar – Free access to legal
opinions and journals
Illinois Courts – Home page of the Illinois
Court system with Illinois Appellate
Supreme Court opinions online (1996 +)
Legal Information Institute – State by
state list (with links) of official court web
sites
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Fastcase is an online legal research
database that offers a low cost alternative
to Lexis and Westlaw. Check it out on the
Law Library homepage.
There’s also a free Fastcase App for
iPhone which lets you search from your
phone or iPad, save cases and statute
sections, and access your search history.
The Digest. It’s no jest!
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The topic and key number system – an
outline of American law, and the index to
West’s National Reporter System
You can access the system online @
Westlaw and use it to find cases
The most effective way to find good
cases:
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Start with one good case from a secondary
source
Then use it to create a “custom digest”
Don’t Forget Your Helpful
Law Library Staff @
(312)915-7205