Legal Trac

Printable version

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

Introduction

LegalTrac, an InfoTrac database, provides articles from major law reviews law journals specialty law and bar association journals legal newspapers It also contains articles on Federal and State Cases, Laws and Regulations, Legal Practice, and Taxation. Coverage includes British Commonwealth, European Union and International Law. LegalTrac provides indexing for approximately 1,300 titles and full text for 109 titles, including American Criminal Law Review American Journal of Family Law American Journal of Law & Medicine Constitutional Commentary Cornell International Law Journal Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy Journal of Church and State Licensing Journal Supreme Court Review Trial Yale Law Journal Coverage ranges from 1980 to present.

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

To construct a search in LegalTrac type in your search topic(s) in the entry box(es) click the Search button Searching in LegalTrac.

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 To view your search results go to the History section at the top of the screen click on View–below the search terms Number of matching citations in Legal Trac. Your list of citations shows citations for items that matched your search availability of full-text: available if list indicates: View text. not available if list indicates: View abstract (summary only) or View extended citation (citation information only)–search results will not indicate if other InfoTrac Web databases or non-InfoTrac Web databases contain the full-text of the article. Sample search results LegalTrac. Records To view a full record (citation and/or article if available) click on the link that appears below a citation: View….to show the full citation a list of subject headings assigned to the record abstract and/or full-text will only be available when indicated by the “view” link Record in Legal Trac. The information in the record, especially the title of the item, subject headings and the abstract–if available–will help you determine if you need the item.

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 print or email multiple records at one time. To mark a record in the list of citations, click in the check box to the left of a citation in a record, click in the check box labeled Mark, to the left of the journal/source name Marking records in Legal Trac. To view your list of marked records click on View mark list on the left side of the screen Marked list in Legal Trac. You may then email or print the items you have selected – if available, full-text can be printed or emailed. Printing To print a record, including full-text if available click on the Print button–on the left side of the screen select Browser Print or Acrobat Reader format, if different article formats are available Browser Print will print an html version of the article the item will be automatically reformatted and the Print dialog box will appear click OK click your Internet browser’s back arrow to return to your search results Acrobat Reader will print a pdf version of the article use the print icon in the Acrobat Reader software Select a print format. Emailing To email a record, including full-text–no graphics or images–if available click on the Email link–on the left side of the screen enter an email address click Submit Email Request Use your complete email address and include a note about what you are sending in the comment box. Email box in Legal Trac. Saving To save a record click on the print button–on the left side of the screen the item will be automatically reformatted and the Print dialog box will appear click Cancel click File on your browser’s tool bar click Save As type your file name in the File name dialog box in the save as type dialog box, click on the down arrow and change to Plain text click on the Save button click your Internet browser’s back arrow to return to your search results File, Save As.

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 Legal Trac Web, there are two ways to search for a phrase put the phrase in double quotes, such as “criminal justice” “curriculum development” use the letter w1 to search for two words as a phrase criminal w1 justice curriculum w1 development Field searching To limit your search to a specific field (index) in the record click on the pull-down arrow–to the right of the box that says “Key Word (ke)” scroll to the field to limit your search to click on the field’s name Field searching in Legal Trac. Date To limit a search to specific years do one of the following go to the Limit the current search section below the entry boxes and then click in the appropriate check box(es) use a field (index ) search for date and then type a date (like 2001, May 2001 or 5/15/2001) or a range of dates (like 1990-1999 or January 2000-June 2000) or from a specific year until the current year ( like 1995- ) Limiting by date in Legal Trac. Publication type Legal Trac does not allow searches to be limited to specific document types, however searches may be limited to refereed (peer-reviewed) or scholarly publications go to the Limit type to section use the refereed publications check box to limit your search Limiting to refereed publications in Legal Trac. Boolean operators 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 Legal Trac databases to locate plural forms, truncate search terms, or replace characters: ! Regular plurals. school! retrieves both school and schools * Any number of characters at the end of a word. leader* retrieves leader, leaders, leadership ? One character. defen?e retrieves both defense and defence Truncating search terms in Legal Trac.

Additional Features