WESTLAW CAMPUS RESEARCH GUIDE
Westlaw Campus Research provides access to many legal resources, including the following:
- Cases from the supreme courts of all 50 states and the federal courts, since 1944.
- Statutes from all 50 states, federal laws published in the United States Code Annotated and many states' administrative codes (regulations); current editions.
- Federal regulations published in the Federal Register (July 1980-current) and the Code of Federal Regulations (current only).
- Annotations from American Law Reports, a publication containing attorney written articles that summarize and analyze case law on a particular legal issue; coverage from ALR2d.
- Articles from American Jurisprudence 2d, a comprehensive encyclopedia of state and federal law.
- Articles from law reviews and journals.
- Federal administrative materials.
- Selected legal materials from the European Union, Europe, and the United Kingdom.
Quick Search
Use the Quick Search option for documents about a specific issue.
To Search:
- In the Search for text box, select either:
- a. Terms and Connecters and type specific keywords. Choose search terms significant to the
- issue and decide which connectors to place between the terms. Terms are automatically
- combined as "or" unless specified. Use quote marks around a phrase. The Terms and Connectors
- search method, which uses Boolean logic [e.g., and (&), or (space), not (%)], allows a query that
- consists of key terms for an issue and connectors specifying the relationship between those terms.
- A list of connectors is found in the Connectors/Expanders Reference List. DO NOT USE THE
- WORDS AND, OR, NOT AS THE BOOLEAN CONNECTORS - USE THE SYMBOLS ONLY.
- b. Natural Language and type a description of the issue using terms that describe the
- main concepts. The Natural Language search method searches using a plain English description
- of an issue. Westlaw retrieves the 20 documents that most closely match the concepts.
- Select a database to search. Click on the
button for an explanation of what is contained and what years are covered in that section of the Westlaw database. Only one database can be searched at a time.
- Click
to retrieve a list of results.
- From the list of result, click on the citation to retrieve the full text of the article, case, encyclopedia entry, etc.
Find a Document
Westlaw Campus can retrieve cases by citation or title and can retrieve statutes and regulations by citation, as well as by keywords.
Retrieve a Case, Statute or a Regulation by Citation
Most cases have a unique identifying citation, typically consisting of the volume number, the abbreviated name of the print reporter and the page number on which the case is found.
Example for a Case: To retrieve the case Bush v. Gore, 121 S. Ct. 636 (2000); type 121sct636 in the Find a Document by citation text box and click .
Example for a Statute: To retrieve the statute 42 U.S.C.A. � 1983; type 42usca1983 in the text box and click .
Example for a Regulation: To retrieve Volume 65 of the Federal Register, Page 81082; type 65fr81082 in the text box and click .
Retrieve a Case by Title
If the title of the case is known, use the names of the parties to retrieve the item.
Example: To retrieve Bush v. Gore; type bush and gore in the Find a Document by title text boxes and click .
KeySearch
KeySearch is a tool powered by the West Key Number System that Identifies relevant key numbers and their underlying concepts, and then creates a query. KeySearch can retrieve reported cases as well as documents that don't contain a key number, such as law reviews and unpublished cases.
Retrieve a Case Using KeySearch
- Click on under KeySearch.
- Browse topics and subtopics in the right frame by clicking the Browse icons
.
- Select a topic or a subtopic to search by clicking the Search icon
next to the topic or subtopic.
- Choose the source to retrieve documents from and type additional search terms (optional) in the Add search terms text box.
- Click
to retrieve documents that satisfy the KeySearch query.
KeySearch Scan Option
- To scan the KeySearch topics and subtopics for specific terms, type the terms in the text box in the left frame of the KeySearch page and click .
- A list of topics and subtopics containing the terms and their hierarchy is displayed.
Note: Westlaw connecters can be used between terms when using the scan feature, except for the /p connector, which KeySearch does not recognize.
Print or E-Mail a Document or List of Citations
Print the Current Full Text Document or List of Citations
- To print the list of citations, click on "File" on the browser bar, select specific pages to print or all pages. Print preview may not show all pages, but all pages should print.
- To print the full text of the document, click on the name of the entry in the results list to retrieve the full text.
- Click on "File" on the browser bar, select specific pages to print or all pages. Print preview may not show all pages, but all pages should print.
E-mail the Current Full Text Document or List of Citations
- To e-mail the full list of citations or to e-mail the full text of the document, click
on the bottom bar of the frame. Not all items may be e-mailed.
- To e-mail, select E-mail from the drop-down menu under Print/Current Destination, then click Properties; a text box for the e-mail address and subject text box will appear.
- Select format and time of delivery options and click Save.
- This will change the Print /Current Destination drop down menu to show the e-mail address selected.
- Click on Send Request.
Sign Off
To end a session, click on 
in the top right corner of the page.
Rev: 09/18/2005