Index to Legal Periodicals & Books

Printable version

Introduction | Accessing | Searching | Search Results | Managing Search Results | Search Tips | Additional Features

Introduction

Index to Legal Periodicals & Books, a WilsonWeb database, provides article citations from legal periodicals and indexes law books published in 1993 and later. Periodical coverage includes law reviews bar association journals university publications yearbooks institutes government publications Index to Legal Periodicals & Books covers all areas of jurisprudence, including recent court decisions, new legislation, and original scholarship. Subject coverage includes Administrative Law Antitrust Legislation Banking Constitutional Law Domestic Relations Environmental Protection Estate Planning Food, Drug & Cosmetic Law International Law Labor Law Landlord/Tenant Decisions Malpractice Suits Minorities Multinational Corporations Negligence Non-Profit Corporations Occupational Health & Safety Politics Probate Products Liability Public Law Real Property Securities Tax Law Trade Regulation Note: Index to Legal Periodicals & Books is not a full-text database.

Accessing

This database may be accessed from the Databases page of the Electronic Resources section of the NSU Alvin Sherman Library website. For more on how to access databases visit http://www.nova.edu/library/dils/lessons/electroniclibrary/

Searching

The Advanced Search screen provides a variety of text entry boxes, dropdown boxes, and radio buttons to help construct a search for information. Whether selecting just Index to Legal Periodicals and Books or multiple Wilson Web databases to search, the screen automatically changes to offer the most useful limiter choices for the database(s). To construct an advanced search select Index to Legal Periodicals and Books type a word, phrase, or name in one or more of the blank text entry boxes choose a field to search from in the as: pull-down arrow if you entered terms in two or more entry boxes, select the appropriate Boolean operator to use you may further limit your search by selecting from the other available options–use the checkboxes and pull-down arows to make selections click Start to retrieve your search results Searching in Index to Legal Periodicals and Books. Modify searches in Index to Legal Periodicals and Books by using one or more of the following enter multiple search terms or concepts combine terms using Boolean operators limit search terms using field searching refine searches with limiters, such as date, document type, etc. Modifying a search in Index to Legal Periodicals and Books.

Search Results

Search results will vary. If you get: No records matched your search, then check your spelling or the fields you searched in. Too many, then go back and limit your search. Sometimes a search needs to be modified with: additional search words, searching only a specific field, adding date limitations, or type of materials. Too few, then go back and expand your search. Consider synonyms for your search words or concepts. Try to use professional language or terminology. Irrelevant results, then try new search terms. Consider synonyms or related concepts. Identify and search using descriptors. Try a different database. Results lists The results screens displays items that most closely match your search terms. By default, the list is sorted by relevance and provides the short form of the citation. The search query is included at the top of the screen, along with a summary of the total number of records, and the database(s) searched. Search results in Brief Display mode in Index to Legal Periodicals and Books. Records To view a record click on the title of the record to display the full citation click on the appropriate icon to limit ti   indicates a link to search NovaCat to determine of the journal is available in the NSU Libraries indicates a peer reviewed journal title click Brief or Full in the bottom taskbar to toggle between the results list (brief display) or individual records (full display) Search results in Full Display mode in Index to Legal Periodicals and Books.

Managing Search Results

Databases typically allow you to manage your search results by marking or tagging records to select only the records that you want from your search results from later printing, emailing and/or saving printing the search results list and/or specific records emailing the search results list and/or specific records to your email address saving the search results list and/or specific records–some databases may allow you to save your file for export into commercial bibliographic citation manager software, such as EndNote or ProCite Not all search management features are available in all databases. Marking The “mark” feature allows you to select records from within your search results. By marking items, you can save, print or email multiple records at one time. To mark a record in the Search Results list, click in the check box–left of a title in an Article Display, click in the check box–top of screen Marking records in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. To view your list of marked records click the Get Marked link–bottom of the screen Get marked records in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. You may then email, print or save the citations you have selected. Printing To print a citation in html format click the Print Email Save button–left side of the screen click a radio button to choose destination select the relevant options click Start click Print click Back link Printing records in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Emailing To email citations click the Print Email Save button–left side of the screen select a format enter email address–to enter multiple addresses, separate them with a semi-colon enter email subject click Start Emailing records in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Saving To save citations click the Print Email Save button–left side of the screen click a radio button to choose destination select the relevant options, including record count and format click Start click OK click Back link Saving in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books.

Search Tips

Use advanced search features to modify a search to obtain more successful search results. You can combine advanced search features to modify and improve your search. Advanced search features often include: phrase or proximity searching field searching date document and/or publication type Boolean operators plurals and truncation One useful tip when searching any electronic database is to leave out articles, prepositions, and very abstract or general terms–they confuse the database's search engine. For example, if the paper is on "The Impact of Mainstreaming Students in Math Classes,” use the most precise terms like mainstreaming and mathematics and skip impact, the, of, and in. Phrase or proximity searching In Index to Legal Periodicals & Books, there are two ways to search for a phrase terms typed in the same box are treated as a phrase, such as higher education curriculum development use the letter w to search for two words as a phrase higher w education curriculum w development Phrase searching in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Field searching To limit your search to a specific field in the record click on the pull-down arrow–to the right of the box that says “as” scroll to the field to limit your search to click on the field’s name Field searching in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Date To limit a search to specific years go to the limit dates to section click on a radial tag–round circle–to search any year or select within last 12 months or select from a specific year to another year–such as 2000-2003 Limiting by date in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Publication type To specify a document type click on the pull-down arrow after the words “Document type” select All (all document types) or choose from the list Limiting by document type in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Wilson Web searches may be limited to peer-reviewed (refereed) publications go to the Limit to: section–below the entry boxes use the Peer reviewed check box to limit your search Limiting to peer reviewed publications in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Boolean operators The Boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT, can be used to modify a search click on the pull-down arrow–below “Search for:” click on the Boolean operator to use: Boolean operators in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. Use AND to narrow a search. AND looks for both terms in the same record. leadership and vision; mainstreaming and science Use OR to broaden a search. OR looks for either term in the same record. mainstreaming or inclusion; elementary education or secondary education Use NOT to eliminate records with a certain term. Saturn not car; Venus not planet Plurals Use the following symbols in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books to locate plural forms, truncate search terms, or replace characters:   Regular plural forms are automatically retrieved. school+ retrieves both school and schools * Zero or any number of characters. leader* retrieves leader, leaders, leadership m*cdonald retrieves mcdonald, macdonald ? One character for each ?. defen?e retrieves both defense and defence einst??n retrieves both einstein and einstien Truncating search terms in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books.

Additional Features

The Thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary list of subjects and related terms used to standardize the indexing in the database. You can select and search for synonyms, related, and preferred terms. To use the Thesaurus click the Thesaurus button–left side of screen select one or more databases enter a term or phrase click Start The results screen displays your term, or a related term, in a hierarchy. The report includes the database(s), and how many related records are available. To clear the terms entered click Clear in the bottom taskbar Thesaurus in Index to Legal Periodicals & Books.