Journal Orientation 2024

This page provides starting points for information relevant to your journal and covers the following topics:

• Subject Guides 
• Electronic Resources
• Choosing a Topic
• Preemption Checks
• Citation Assistance
• Where to find PDF versions of documents

As always, if you need additional assistance, please request a Student Consult and we will be glad to help.  

ECGAR "strives to answer questions surrounding litigation, as well as address issues of financial risk management, labor law, products liability, environmental law, health law, and lawmaking" Because of this, you will find yourself writing and spading in a wide variety of legal topics. 

We recommend that once you've familiarized yourself with an area you'd like to explore further, you schedule a research consultation with a law librarian so that we can point you to more specialized resources.

Finding Guides by Subject:

You can limit your database search by title, subject, or most popular databases. Explore the available databases here:

• Emory Law Electronic Resources and Databases
• Emory Woodruff Library Databases

Finding Treatises:

• Westlaw Secondary Sources and Treatises by Topic
• Lexis Treatises and Practice Guides by Practice Area
• Bloomberg Law Books and Treatises by Practice Area
• Cheetah (Resources by practice area) 
• Treatises by topic (list from Georgia State University Law Library) 
• Georgetown Law Library Treatise Finder

Business and Corporate Databases:

• Bloomberg Law Corporate Law Practice Center: Legal analysis and practice tools
  • Corporate Governance: Practice tools and analysis, sample documents, and filings, among other resources.
• VitalLaw (formerly Cheetah): Resources in corporate and business law subject areas, including newsletters and treatises. Wolters Kluwer's VitalLaw provides an updated platform backed by Wolters Kluwer's legal content. Contains legal resources for business and finance, health law, and antitrust.
• Westlaw Practitioner Insights for Corporate Governance along with links to primary materials related to Securities practice.
• Lexis Practice Advisor for Capital Markets and Corporate Governance with links to news, analysis, practice notes and materials.
• Law360 - Corporate: For current awareness and news on the topic. Or search on Lexis .
• Getting the Deal Through: GTDT is a Q&A comparative series covering over 80 business and commercial practice areas with analysis from more than 150 international jurisdictions. Also available on Bloomberg Law in Reference Materials and on Lexis. 
• Practical Law on Westlaw: Q&A guides, practice notes, and updates on business and commercial practice areas, including global and cross-border guides.
• Business Source Complete: BSC is a scholarly business database that provides full-text access to both peer-reviewed and popular business-related journals.
• ABI/Inform Complete: Access business and management journals and trade magazines from U.S. and international sources. Includes full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, and popular business and economics periodicals.
• Conference Board: Business reports and analysis from a corporate think-tank. See the Environmental, Social, and Governance Center Newsletter for news and insights in the area of Corporate Governance and Sustainability. 

Corporate Governance law blogs include:

• The Harvard Corporate Governance Forum
• Corporate Governance Insights (Stanford University)
• The CLS Blue Sky Blog (Columbia Law School)
• Briefing: Governance (DavisPolk)
• Corporate Governance (blog)

Legal news and current awareness tools are a good source for identifying developing areas of law ripe for new scholarship. 

Current Awareness

Legal Blogs

Circuit Splits

You will need to do a preemption check to make sure that your idea is original. To do this, you should do a thorough search of the legal literature to determine if another author has already published on your topic, using the same analysis as yours. 

1. Compile a List of Search Terms: Start by compiling a list of search terms that will retrieve any articles similar to your proposed comment.

2. Search Law Journal Articles: Search for recent law review articles on your topic in the law journal databases on Westlaw and Lexis. If your proposed comment is based on a case or statute, you should also use Keycite on Westlaw and Shepards on Lexis to find articles analyzing the case or statute.

You might also search in Legal Research Index on Westlaw, using the index headings to find articles on your topic, and in the Current Index to Legal Periodicals on Westlaw and Hein Online, a weekly index service arranged by subject area. Both are good for finding the most recent law journal articles in a subject area. 

3. Search For Interdisciplinary Articles (if applicable)

4. Search for Books/Chapters: You should also check for books and book chapters that might have been published on your topic, using discoverE, the Emory University Libraries catalog, and WorldCat, a catalog of the holdings of U.S. and international libraries. 

5. Search for Unpublished Materials: To find working papers and pending law review articles, search the abstracts in the Legal Scholarship Network, a division of SSRN, and the articles in the bepress Legal Repository. Academic legal blogs, such as the Legal Theory Blog and the blogs in the Law Professor Blogs Network, sometimes post announcements of new legal scholarship.

*Be sure to keep checking for new articles on your topic, and other developments that might affect your research, using alerts on Westlaw and Lexis, and by following topical legal blogs and newsletters.*

Additional Guides on Preemption

Some other legal research guides on preemption include:

• University of Washington Gallagher Law Library: Writing for & Publishing in Law Reviews
• University of Chicago Law Library: Preemption Check Checklist
• Yale Lillian Goldman Law Library: Preemption Checking
• American University Pence Law Library: Running a Preemption Check

Organizing your Materials

• Research Strategies for Academic Writing
• Managing Writing Projects (Zotero!)
• Find Articles at the Emory Libraries
• Accessing Emory Digital Resources
• Working Remotely Tips & Tricks
• Remote Collections Support and Access (Summer and Fall 2020 Phased Reopening)

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Citations depend on the latest edition The Bluebook. The new 21st edition lists noteworthy changes from the previous edition. The T2 tables for foreign jurisdictions in the Electronic Bluebook are available for free.

The 21st Edition of the Bluebook is now available online.  Individual subscriptions are available starting at $39 per year. For assistance with the new edition of The Bluebook, submit a Student Consultation Request with the librarians, who have the new editions.

For a free, online alternative, try the Indigo Book, based on the Bluebook Uniform System of Citation. 

Physical Materials

• The Bluebook: Available on reserve at the Reference Desk 
• Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations: Available on reserve at the Reference Desk.

Database Tools

• Hein Online Law Journal Library: The Citation Navigator available in most Hein libraries lets you enter a citation and retrieve the document, and there is also a citation guide with accepted Bluebook abbreviations.  
• JSTOR: "Cite This Item" available in APA, MLA, and Chicago styles

Library Guides

• Loyola Law School Bluebooking and Legal Citation
• Georgetown Law Library Bluebook Guide
• The University of St. Thomas The Bluebook: A Systematic Approach
• Gallagher Law Library Bluebook 101
• Cincinnati Law Library Bluebook Citation 101 - Practitioner Format

• University of Akron Bluebook Quick Reference: Abbreviations and How-tos

Interactive Training

• CALI: Citation Form for Briefs and Legal Memoranda
• Lexis: Bluebook Exercises

Published Opinions

• US Supreme Court: Slip opinions and official bound volumes in PDF
• Westlaw: Reported cases published in West reporters; look for the PDF symbol

Dockets

• Bloomberg Law: For filings from federal and select state dockets

Journals

• Hein Online: Scanned PDF images in its Law Journal Library
• JSTOR: Non-law journals in PDF, including older issues

Government Documents

• GovInfo US government publications in PDF, including legislative history documents, the US Code, and the Federal Register
• Hein Online: Scanned PDF images in its US Code, US Congressional Documents, US Statutes at Large libraries, and CFR and Federal Register libraries
• ProQuest Congressional and ProQuest Legislative Insight:  Legislative history materials in PDF
• EDGAR: SEC Filing database. For executive compensation information, search for proxy statements (DEF 14A), annual 10-K filings, and 8-K filings in particular.

Newspapers

• ProQuest Newspapers: Historical newspapers available as scanned PDFs
• How Do I Find Newspapers? Guide

Treatises

Many of the Emory's ebook databases have books and treatises in PDF or other image formats. Find them by searching titles in discoverE. 

Academic and Journal Writing:

• Research Strategy for Academic Writing
• Managing Writing Projects
• Find Articles at the Emory Libraries
• Accessing Emory Digital Resources
• Working Remotely Tips & Tricks
• Remote Collections Support and Access (Summer and Fall 2020 Phased Reopening)

Legal Research Skills:

• Administrative Law
• Caselaw and Citators
• Legislative History
• Secondary Sources​

Business Research

• Corporate Governance
• Business Research Guide

Multidisciplinary Research:

• American and Interdisciplinary Studies
• Anthropology
• Environmental Sciences
• Political Science
• Public Health

Emory Subject Guides

• Law Research Guides by Subject
• Woodruff Research Guides by Subject

Subject Guides beyond Emory

• Georgetown Corporate Law Research Guide
• Duke Law Business Association Research Guide
• Harvard Law Corporate Law & Corporate Governance Research Guide

MacMillan Library Hybrid Research Services:

          Monday - Friday: 9am - 5pm
          Saturday - Sunday: Closed 

MacMillan Library Building Hours (August 19 - November 15, 2024):

Monday - Thursday: 8am - Midnight
Friday: 8am - 8pm
Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Sunday: Noon - Midnight

Reference Desk:
Monday: 10am - 4pm
Tuesday: 10am - 4pm
Wednesday: 10am - 12pm; 2pm - 4pm
Thursday: 10am - 4pm
Friday: 10am - 1pm
Saturday and Sunday: Closed
 

IT Help Desk:
Monday - Friday: 
Saturday - Sunday: Closed

Emory Law Archives:
Physical archives: By appointment only.
Digital archives: More information available here. 
Limited remote services are available on a case-by-case basis. 
Questions?  Email Anna Sturgill, Law Librarian for Archives and Assessment Services