Basics Goals
• What is the Internet?
• How do we access it?
• Where do we start to find the
information it contains?
• Firm Goal - cost effective access to
information - including legal sources &
research
What the Internet is NOT
• Information Superhighway
• Free source of information
otherwise found on Lexis and
Westlaw
• Free source of any information
you could possibly want about
anything and everything
WHAT IT IS
• Massive resource of services
• Wonderful self-publishing
medium
• The largest, most disorganized
library in the world
Research Uses
• Current information - not retrospective
• Primary Law - cases, statutes,
regulations
• Company homepages - news,
financials, stock quotes
• Government sites, Federal and State
• Finding people
• E-mail discussion lists and Usenet
E-Mail Discussion Lists
• Electronic Mailing Lists
– http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/lawlists/la
wlists.txt
• Deja News
– http://www.dejanews.com
• Netiquette
– http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/09
netiqt.htm
The Web Address
http://www.mckennacuneo.com
Hypertext Transfer
Protocol
Arbitrary use of
www
not always present
Host name
Domain
(Commercial
Entity)
Domain Types
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
.com (Commercial)
.edu (Education)
.gov (Government)
.mil (Military)
.net (Networking Organizations)
.org (Nonprofits & Associations)
Others (.uk, .ca, etc.)
Browser Basics
• URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is
in the Address box.
Browser Buttons
Back one page
Forward one page
Stop the process
Re-load the page
Bookmarks
you’ve added Check Mail
Where you’ve been
Go Back (Home)
to the
See more of
Research
the page
Assistant
Where to Start
• Know the URL? Type it in and go.
• Don’t know it? Try guessing.
• Define the subject matter
• Use a directory (try Findlaw or
Yahoo)
• Use search engines for unique words
and phrases
Search Engines
• Directory Type
– Good for finding general information
– Groups websites together by category
• Index Type
– Sends “Spiders” or “Robots” to find
information
– Finds individual pages that match terms
– Can find gem, or waste a lot of time
Search Engines - Directories
• Yahoo - http://www.yahoo.com
– Good starting point for general
information
– Use for companies, state & local
governments
– Quick stock quotes with graphs
• Excite - http://www.excite.com
– Daily news & review of other sites
Search Engines - Indexes
• Alta Vista http://www.altavista.digital.com
– Search Web and Usenet
– Updates information often
• Infoseek http://www.infoseek.com
– Search Web, Usenet & E-Mail addresses
– Gives a score to your search
• HotBot http://www.hotbot.com
– Fast & powerful
– Results ranked by confidence rating
Metasearch Engines
• Metacrawler http://www.metacrawler.com
– Searches nine other search engines,
discards the duplicates, brief abstract
• Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com
– Searches some different engines
Search Engines Don’t Find-• Adobe PDF and formatted file content
• Content from a site requiring a login
• Protected pages
• Non-Web resources (FTP, Gopher)
Law Related Sites
• State and Federal primary law
• Courts and other Government links
• State Bars and CLE programs
• Attorney directories
• Legal publishers
Law Related Sites
http://www.findlaw.com
Link to
Supreme
Court
Cases
from
1893
(FLITE)
Law Related Sites
http://law.house.gov
List of
available
State
Laws
List of
available
Int’l
Laws
Law Related Sites
• Legal Information Institute at Cornell
– http://www.law.cornell.edu
– full text searching of Supreme Court
cases from 1990– U.S. Code - handy update feature
• Center for Information Law & Policy
– http://www.vcilp.org
– Government and Court information
Government Sites - Start here
• The Federal Web Locator
– http://www.law.vill.edu/Fed-Agency
– Villanova’s list of government agency
sites - excellent starting point
• GPO http://www.access.gpo.gov
– Government Printing Office - may
search databases from Federal
Register, Congressional Record and
MUCH more - files are usually Adobe
– Commerce Business Daily
Government sites - Continued
• Thomas http://thomas.loc.gov
– Federal legislation, Congressional
Committee reports, Congressional
Record, Links to committee pages,
Public Laws
• Administrative Decisions
– http:www.law.virginia.edu/Library/govadm.htm
– Links to Directives, Decisions, Orders,
Circulars from various Federal Agencies
(Agriculture to Veterans Affairs)
Government Sites - California
• California State http://www.ca.gov
– Laws
– State agencies
• Legislative Information
– http://www.leginfo.ca.gov
– Maintained by Legislative Counsel
– Subscribe to current bills
Another California Site
• California Courts
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov
– Supreme Court & Court of Appeals Slip
Opinions
– Judicial Council Forms
– Court rules for many Superior and
Municipal Courts
– Fee schedules for Superior and
Municipal Courts
Government Contracts
• CCH Government Contract Reporter
no longer published
• DFAR no longer updated in paper
• Government Printing Office moving
away from paper publishing
• Rely more on online sources
Look for these Sites
• Practice Groups ; Government
Contracts (Research Assistant)
• FAR site
– http://www.arnet.gov/far
• DFAR site
– http://acq.osd.mil/dp/dars/index.html
– Subscribe to DFAR updates
More Government Contract Sites
• Defenselink http://defenselink.gov
– Good place to start for Defense
information
• GAO http://www.gao.gov
– Decisions, reports, rules
– GAO listserv
Finding People
• Attorneys
– Martindale-Hubbell
• http://www.martindale.com
– West’s Legal Directory
• http://www.wld.com
• Telephone numbers - addresses
– White Pages
– E-Mail Addresses
Browser Tips - View History
• To see pages from previous sessions,
click the History Button on the toolbar
• Click appropriate Folder
Add Favorites
•
•
•
•
•
While on page, click Favorites on menu
Click Add to Favorites
Type a new name if needed
Click OK
To arrange in folders, click Create in
Add Favorites - Continued
• Highlight a folder or click on New Folder
• Name the folder and press Enter
FIND
Click EDIT
And
then
FIND
Type
in
word
Send a Link
- Click on FILE, then on SEND
- Send LINK or PAGE
Print a Page
• Click on File (on menu)
• Click on Print
• Choose All or page range
• Click on OK
• Send large documents or graphics to
the high-speed printer
Save Text or Files
1. Click FILE on Toolbar
2. Click
SAVE AS
Save Text or Files - Continued
3. Designate the location to save
file: Type in C:\Download\[filename]
5. Click
SAVE
4. Save as text file, not html
PDF & Adobe Acrobat
• .PDF = Portable Document Format
• Use Adobe Acrobat to Read
• Usually, document automatically
downloads and opens up
• If you need to download, use AllFiles
extension
• Documents are not Text files
Print
Find
To learn the Web - Use It
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